Ammonium squarate salt [(NH
4)
2C
4O
4] crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2
1/c. The crystal presents the squarate
ions displayed in layers parallel to a crystallographic axis and forming hydrogen bonds interact
ions with
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cat
ions, localized between squarate an
ions layers. The squarate an
ion presents similar CC and CO bond distances which indicate a degree of electronic delocalizat
ion in the rings. A π-stacking interact
ion is observed between squarate rings separated by interplanar distance and centroid ring distance of respectively 3.41 and 3.71
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. The electron delocalizat
ion was also observed in the vibrat
ional spectra. The infrared spectrum shows a narrow band around 1530 cm
−1, assigned to a coupled stretching mode of CO and CC groups, indicating the high symmetry of the squarate
ion. The Raman spectrum also shows this effect in the 1000 to 1200 cm
−1 reg
ion (related to CC stretching mode), where it is expected a decrease of the number of bands if compared to squarate
ion in aqueous solut
ion, where the symmetry is actually
D4h; in the (NH
4)
2C
4O
4 Raman spectrum just one strong band is observed at 1120 cm
−1. All the vibrat
ional results indicate the symmetry is very close to the one observed for the solvated
ion in aqueous solut
ion; once again the vibrat
ional analysis appears as an important tool in recognizing the
oxocarbon ion geometry in the solid state.