Hexakis(cyanogen)zinc(II) Hexafluoridoarsenate – Synthesis, Structure and a Raman Spectroscopic Study of an Octahedral Homoleptic Cyanogen Complex

[Zn(NCCN) 6 ][AsF 6 ] 2 ( 1 ) was prepared either by dissolving [Zn(SO 2 ) 6 ](Te 6 )[AsF 6 ] 6 in a SO 2 /(CN) 2 mixture, or by the reaction of [Zn(AsF 6 ) 2 (SO 2 ) x ] dissolved in liquid SO 2 and cyanogen. The respective nickel complex [Ni(NCCN) x ][AsF 6 ] 2 ( 2 ) was obtained from [Ni(AsF 6 ) 2 (SO 2 ) x ] or from [Ni(SO 2 ) 6 ](Te 6 )[AsF 6 ] 6 . Both, 1 and 2 were obtained in quantitative yield. Compound 1 crystallizes isopointally to [Ni(NCCH 3 ) 6 ][SbF 6 ] 2 ( Leban 1987), [Fe(NCCH 3 ) 6 ][SbF 6 ] 2 ( Brennessel 2001), [Zn(NCCH 3 ) 6 ][AsF 6 ] 2 ( Passmore 2006) and contains only slightly distorted octahedral [Zn(NCCN) 6 ] 2+ cations and [AsF 6 ] – anions. The linearity of the NC–CN molecules is preserved in the complexes. Raman spectra of 1 and 2 are presented and compared with the literature data. The almost identical spectra allow for the assumption that the nickel complex ( 2 ) is isostructural to the zinc complex ( 1 ).