Crystal structures of the potassium and silver salts of nitroform

The solid state structures of three nitroformate (NF) salts were determined using single crystal X-ray crystallography. The NF anion was found to be a non-planar moiety which adopts either the commonly observed C-2v, conformation or distorted propeller conformation (D-3) in the case of the silver salts, or, a C-2 conformation in the case of the potassium salt. This latter C2 conformation has been uniquely observed for potassium nitroformate. All structures exhibit cation-anion interactions that influence the structure of the anion. The C-13 and N-14 NMR spectra of the NF anion show broad singlets, which indicates the equivalence of the nitro groups in solution within the NMR time-scale. In addition, the vibrational and mass spectra of potassium nitroformate and silver nitroformate monohydrate were recorded. Furthermore, the gaseous decomposition products of potassium nitroformate at 25 degrees C were detected using IR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry.