Revisiting the Solution Structure of Ceric Ammonium Nitrate

Ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) is a single-electron-transfer reagent with unparalleled utility in organic synthesis, and has emerged as a vital feedstock in diverse chemical industries. Most applications use CAN in solution where it is assigned a monomeric [Ce-IV(NO3)(6)](2-) structure; an assumption traced to half-century old studies. Using synchrotron X-rays and Raman spectroscopy we challenge this tradition, converging instead on an oxo-bridged dinuclear complex, even in strong nitric acid. Thus, one equivalent of CAN is recast as a two-electron-transfer reagent and a redox-activated superbase, raising questions regarding the origins of its reactivity with organic molecules and giving new fundamental insight into the stability of polynuclear complexes of tetravalent ions.