Phase transitions and molecular motions in [Cd(H2O)6](BF4)2 studied by DSC, 1H and 19F NMR and FT-MIR

Two solid phase transitions of [Cd(H2O)6](BF4)2 occurring on heating at TC2=183.3K and TC1=325.3K, with 2K and 5K hysteresis, respectively, were detected by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). High value of entropy changes indicated large orientational disorder of the high temperature and intermediate phase. Nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR and 19F NMR) relaxation measurements revealed that the phase transitions at TC1 and TC2 were associated with a drastic and small change, respectively, of the both spin-lattice relaxation times: T1(1H) and T1(19F). These relaxation processes were connected with the 'tumbling' motions of the [Cd(H2O)6]2+, reorientational motions of the H2O ligands, and with the iso- and anisotropic reorientation of the BF4- anions. The cross-relaxation effect was observed in phase III. The line width and the second moment of the 1H and 19F NMR line measurements revealed that the H2O reorientate in all three phases of the title compound. On heating the onset of the reorientation of 3 H2O in the [Cd(H2O)6]+2, around the three-fold symmetry axis of these octahedron, causes the isotropic reorientation of the whole cation. The BF4- reorientate isotropically in the phases I and II, but in the phase III they perform slow reorientation only about three- or two-fold axes. A small distortion in the structure of BF4- as well as of [Cd(H2O)6]2+ is postulated. The temperature dependence of the bandwidth of the O-H stretching mode measured by Fourier transform middle infrared spectroscopy (FT-MIR) indicated that the activation energy for the reorientation of the H2O did not change much at the TC2 phase transition