Hydration and Ion Pair Formation in Aqueous Lu³⁺- Solution

Aqueous solutions of Lu3+- perchlorate, triflate and chloride were measured by Raman spectroscopy. A weak, isotropic mode at 396 cm−1 (full width at half height (fwhh) at 50 cm−1) was observed in perchlorate and triflate solutions. This mode was assigned to the totally symmetric stretching mode of [Lu(OH2)8]3+, ν1LuO8. In Lu(ClO4)3 solutions in heavy water, the ν1LuO8 symmetric stretch of [Lu(OD2)8]3+ appears at 376.5 cm−1. The shift confirms the theoretical isotopic effect of this mode. In the anisotropic scattering of aqueous Lu(ClO4)3, five bands of very low intensity were observed at 113 cm−1, 161.6 cm−1, 231 cm−1, 261.3 cm−1 and 344 cm−1. In LuCl3 (aq) solutions measured over a concentration range from 0.105⁻3.199 mol·L−1 a 1:1 chloro-complex was detected. Its equilibrium concentration, however, disappeared rapidly with dilution and vanished at a concentration < 0.5 mol·L−1. Quantitative Raman spectroscopy allowed the detection of the fractions of [Lu(OH2)8]3+, the fully hydrated species and the mono-chloro complex, [Lu(OH2)7Cl]2+. In a ternary LuCl3/HCl solution, a mixtrure of chloro-complex species of the type [Lu(OH2)8−nCln]+3−n (n = 1 and 2) were detected. DFT geometry optimization and frequency calculations are reported for Lu3+- water cluster in vacuo and with a polarizable dielectric continuum (PC) model including the bulk solvent implicitly. The bond distance and angle for [Lu(OH2)8]3+ within the PC are in good agreement with data from structural experiments. The DFT frequencies for the Lu-O modes of [Lu(OH2)8]3+ and its deuterated analog [Lu(OD2)8]3+ in a PC are in fair agreement with the experimental ones. The calculated hydration enthalpy of Lu3+ (aq) is slightly lower than the experimental value