Infrared Spectra of Water in Crystalline Hydrates: KSnCl3•H2O, an Untypical Monohydrate

Abstract
Infrared spectra of polycrystalline KSnCl3•H2O were recorded between 4000 and 300 cm−1 at different degrees of deuteration and at temperatures between 30 and −160 °C. At low temperatures the spectra show a complexity indicative of the presence of several crystallographically distinct water molecules. These molecules occupy sites with nearly identical environments and at room temperature are spectroscopically indistinguishable. The environment of each of these molecules is asymmetric. Hydrogen bonds are very weak and probably highly bent. The water molecules are less separated from one another than in K2SnCl4•H2O and may share their potassium neighbors.