Behaviours of trinitratonitrosyl complexes of ruthenium in dilute nitric acid solutions

This study aimed to elucidate the protolysis and condensation processes of the Ru complexes in relation to the concentration of nitric acid. The compositions of the dissociated and undissociated complexes were determined by the extraction with tributyl phosphate (TBP) and absorption spectroscopy in order to follow the rather rapid protolysis reaction of the complexes. The test solutions were prepared by dissolving the freshly obtained complexes into 0.50 - 0.001 M nitric acid solutions. The amounts of the undissociated complexes were determined at different elapses of time in the test solutions. The protolysis became significant when the concentration was below 0.15 M, and the dissociation rate suddenly increased at this concentration. At the concentrations above 0.2 M, the absorption peak of the complexes at 480 nm survived even after 144 hours. But below 0.15 M, the formation of dissociation products by protolysis was observed after the disappearance of the absorption peak. The amount of dissociation products rapidly increased after the preparation of the test solution as the concentration decreased below 0.15 M. (author)