Reactions of beryllium halides in liquid ammonia: the tetraammineberyllium cation [Be(NH3)4]2+, its hydrolysis products, and the action of Be2+ as a fluoride-ion acceptor.

The first structural characterization of the text-book tetraammineberyllium(II) cation Be(NH(3))(4), obtained in the compounds Be(NH(3))(4)Cl(4)⋅17NH(3) and [Be(NH(3))(4)]Cl(2), is reported. Through NMR spectroscopic and quantum chemical studies, its hydrolysis products in liquid ammonia were identified. These are the dinuclear Be(2)(μ-OH)(NH(3))(6) and the cyclic Be(2)(μ-OH)(2)(NH(3))(4) and Be(3)(μ-OH)(3)(NH(3))(6) cations. The latter species was isolated as the compound [Be(3)(μ-OH)(3)(NH(3))(6)]Cl(3)⋅7NH(3). NMR analysis of solutions of BeF(2) in liquid ammonia showed that the [BeF(2)(NH(3))(2)] molecule was the only dissolved species. It acts as a strong fluoride-ion acceptor and forms the BeF(3)(NH(3)) anion in the compound [N(2)H(7)][BeF(3)(NH(3))]. The compounds presented herein were characterized by single-crystal X-ray structure analysis, (9)Be, (17)O, and (19)F NMR, IR, and Raman spectroscopy, deuteration studies, and quantum chemical calculations. The extension of beryllium chemistry to the ammine system shows similarities but also decisive differences to the aquo system.