Manganese Citrate Chemistry: Syntheses, Spectroscopic Studies, and Structural Characterizations of Novel Mononuclear, Water-Soluble Manganese Citrate Complexes

The first two mononuclear manganese citrate complexes, (NH4)4[MnII(C6H5O7)2] (1) and (NH4)5[MnIII(C6H4O7)2]·2H2O
(2) were synthesized in aqueous solutions near physiological pH values. They were isolated in their pure crystalline
forms and characterized by elemental analyses and spectroscopic techniques, including UV/visible, electron
paramagnetic resonance, Fourier transformed infrared, and magnetic susceptibility measurements. Compound 1
crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/c, with a = 8.777(1) Å, b = 13.656(3) Å, c = 9.162(2) Å, β =
113.62(2)°, V = 1006.2(6) Å3, and Z = 2. Compound 2 crystallizes in the triclinic space group P1̄, with a =
9.606(3) Å, b = 9.914(3) Å, c = 7.247(3) Å, α = 91.05(1)°, β = 105.60(1)°, γ = 119.16(1)°, V = 571.3(3) Å3,
and Z = 1. The X-ray crystal structures of 1 and 2 revealed that, in both cases, the manganese ion is six-coordinate
and is bound by two citrate ligands in a distorted octahedral fashion. In the case of complex 1, the citrate ion
binds to Mn2+ as a triply deprotonated ligand, retaining the central carbon hydroxyl hydrogen, whereas, in the
case of compound 2, the citrate ligand coordinates to Mn3+ as a fully deprotonated entity. Compound 2 contains
water molecules of crystallization in the unit cell which, through extensive hydrogen-bonding interactions, bestow
considerable stability upon the Mn3+−citrate assembly. There are significant contributions to the stabilities of the
assembled lattices in 1 and 2 arising from the ammonium counterions neutralizing the high anionic charges of the
complexes. The EPR spectra attest to the presence of paramagnetic Mn2+ and Mn3+ species in the solid state.
Corroborative evidence is obtained from the magnetic susceptibility measurements in the range 5−300 K.
Complexes 1 and 2 present clear cases of mononuclear manganese citrate species relevant to manganese speciation
in biological media and potentially related to the beneficial as well as toxic effects of manganese on humans.