Raman spectroscopic evidence for the existence of cyanide linkage isomers; equlibria of silver complexes in liquid ammonia

Abstract

The Raman spectra of liquid ammonia solutions of the silver(I) ion in the presence of varying amounts of cyanide ion show two polarised bands for each of the species ‘AgCN,’[Ag(CN)₂]^–, and [Ag(CN)₃]^2–; this is interpreted as evidence for the presence of cyanide linkage isomers, and from temperature variation studies it is proposed that ‘AgCN’ is constituted as [Ag(NH₃)_y(CN)], where y= 2 or 3.