Vibrational behavior of the phosphates ions in dittmarite-type compounds M'M''PO4.H2O (M'=K+, NH4+; M''=Mn2+, Co2+, Ni2+).

The IR and Raman spectra of the isostructural M'M''PO4.H2O compounds (M'=K+, NH4+; M''=Mn2+, Co2+, Ni2+) are reported and discussed with respect to the normal vibrations of the PO(4)3- ions. The vibrational behavior of PO4(3-) is in agreement with its low site symmetry Cs in the lattices-the symmetric nu1 and nu2 modes are activated in the IR spectra and the degeneration of the asymmetric nu3 and nu4 modes is lifted. A relatively large unit-cell group splitting is observed for nu1 in both the IR and Raman spectra and for nu3 in Raman spectra. It has been established that the mean wavenumbers of the P-O stretches (nuPO) are not affected by the M2+ ions present, but they are lower for the NH4-series than for the K-one (predominant influence of both the smaller repulsion potential and the hydrogen bonds in the NH4-lattices over the influence of the M+-O interactions). The extent of the energetic distortion of the PO(4)3- ions has been estimated based on the spectroscopic data for the site group splitting of the asymmetric modes (Deltanu3 and Deltanu4), the separation between the highest and the lowest wavenumbered P-O stretches (Deltanumax) and the intensity of nu1 in the IR spectra. The data provide an evidence that the PO4(3-) ions in KM''PO4.H2O are more distorted regarding the P-O bond lengths than those in NH4M''PO4.H2O, but their angular distortion is the same in both series. The trends for the energetic distortion of the phosphate ions found from the spectroscopic data correspond to the data for their geometric distortion deduced from the values of the distortion indices DI(PO) and DI(OPO).