Abstract
The work to be described in this thesis may be considered in three parts, each relating to a particular aspect of the infrared spectroscopy of some ruthenium nitrosyls. In the first part the preparation of a number of compounds of the general type RuNOHal[3]L[2] is described, where L may be a donor ligand from Group V or VI. Some of these compounds are described for the first time. They are used in an attempt to relate variations in structure with changes in the nitrosyl stretching frequency. During the course of these preparations it was noted that with the exception of amine ligands, the synthesis of compounds containing more than two neutral ligands was extremely difficult. All the compounds were found to be diamagnetic, as would be expected from considerations outlined in the Introduction. The second part consists of an infrared study of the well characterised tetrammines [RuNO(NH[3])[4]]Y Hal[2,3] where Y = hal, -OH, H[2]O. A complete study of the spectra has been made, and the effect of the negative ligands investigated. The compounds were deuterated by hydrogen exchange with heavy water, and the results of deuteration used to assist the assignments. This work is described in Section IV. In the final part ( Section VI ) the effect of solvents on the nitrosyl stretching frequency is examined. In all cases an increase in frequency is found as the polarity of the solvent rises within a related group of solvents. An explanation of the effect based on a dipole-dipole interaction between the solvent and the nitrosyl group is proposed.