Latent porosity in potassium dodecafluoro-closo-dodecaborate(2-). Structures and rapid room temperature interconversions of crystalline K2B12F12, K2(H2O)2B12F12, and K2(H2O)4B12F12 in the presence of water vapor.

Structures of K(2)(H(2)O)(2)B(12)F(12) and K(2)(H(2)O)(4)B(12)F(12) were determined by X-ray diffraction. They contain K(μ-H(2)O)(2)K and (H(2)O)K(μ-H(2)O)(2)K(H(2)O) dimers, respectively, which interact with superweak B(12)F(12)(2-) anions via multiple K···F(B) interactions and (O)H···F(B) hydrogen bonds (the dimers in K(2)(H(2)O)(4)B(12)F(12) are also linked by (O)H···O hydrogen bonds). DFT calculations show that both dimers are thermodynamically stabilized by the lattice of anions: the predicted ΔE values for the gas-phase dimerization of two K(H(2)O)(+) or K(H(2)O)(2)(+) cations into K(μ-H(2)O)(2)K or (H(2)O)K(μ-H(2)O)(2)K(H(2)O) are +232 and +205 kJ mol(-1), respectively. The calculations also predict that ΔE for the gas-phase reaction 2 K(+) + 2 H(2)O → K(μ-H(2)O)(2)K is +81.0 kJ mol, whereas ΔH for the reversible reaction K(2)B(12)F(12 (s)) + 2 H(2)O((g)) → K(2)(H(2)O)(2)B(12)F(12 (s)) was found to be -111 kJ mol(-1) by differential scanning calorimetry. The K(2)(H(2)O)(0,2,4)B(12)F(12) system is unusual in how rapidly the three crystalline phases (the K(2)B(12)F(12) structure was reported recently) are interconverted, two of them reversibly. Isothermal gravimetric and DSC measurements showed that the reaction K(2)B(12)F(12 (s)) + 2 H(2)O((g)) → K(2)(H(2)O)(2)B(12)F(12 (s)) was complete in as little as 4 min at 25 °C when the sample was exposed to a stream of He or N(2) containing 21 Torr H(2)O((g)). The endothermic reverse reaction required as little as 18 min when K(2)(H(2)O)(2)B(12)F(12) at 25 °C was exposed to a stream of dry He. The products of hydration and dehydration were shown to be crystalline K(2)(H(2)O)(2)B(12)F(12) and K(2)B(12)F(12), respectively, by PXRD, and therefore these reactions are reconstructive solid-state reactions (there is also evidence that they may be single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformations when carried out very slowly). The hydration and dehydration reaction times were both particle-size dependent and carrier-gas flow rate dependent and continued to decrease up to the maximum carrier-gas flow rate of the TGA instrument that was used, demonstrating that the hydration and dehydration reactions were limited by the rate at which H(2)O((g)) was delivered to or swept away from the microcrystal surfaces. Therefore, the rates of absorption and desorption of H(2)O from unit cells at the surface of the microcrystals, and the rate of diffusion of H(2)O across the moving K(2)(H(2)O)(2)B(12)F(12 (s))/K(2)B(12)F(12 (s)) phase boundary, are even faster than the fastest rates of change in sample mass due to hydration and dehydration that were measured. The exchange of 21 Torr H(2)O((g)) with either D(2)O or H(2)(18)O in microcrystalline K(2)(D(2)O)(2)B(12)F(12) or K(2)(H(2)(18)O)(2)B(12)F(12) at 25 °C was also facile and required as little as 45 min to go to completion (H(2)O((g)) replaced both types of isotopically labeled water at the same rate for a given starting sample of K(2)B(12)F(12), demonstrating that water molecules were exchanging, not protons. Significant portions of mass (m) vs time (t) plots for the (1,2)H(2)O((g))/K(2)((2,1)H(2)O)(2)B(12)F(12 (s)) exchange reactions fit the equation m ∝ e(-kt), with 10(3)k = 1.9 s(-1) for one particle size distribution and 10(3)k = 0.50 s(-1) for another. Finally, K(2)(H(2)O)(2)B(12)F(12) was not transformed into K(2)(H(2)O)(4)B(12)F(12) after prolonged exposure to 21 Torr H(2)O((g)) at 25 °C, 37 Torr H(2)O((g)) at 35 °C, or 55 Torr H(2)O((g)) at 45 °C.