metal-organic compounds
Poly[diammonium [(μ4-butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylato)zincate] tetrahydrate]
aTianmu College of ZheJiang A & F University, Lin'An 311300, People's Republic of China
*Correspondence e-mail: shouwenjin@yahoo.cn
In the title compound, {(NH4)2[Zn(C8H6O8)]·4H2O}n, the contains one ammonium cation, half of a butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate anion, one Zn2+ cation and two water molecules. The butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate ligand is located about an inversion centre at the mid-point of the central C—C bond. The Zn2+ cation is situated on a twofold rotation axis and is surrounded by four O atoms from four symmetry-related butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate anions in a distorted tetrahedral environment. In turn, each anion coordinates to four Zn2+ cations. The bridging mode of the anions leads to a three-dimensional framework structure with channels extending along [110] and [010] in which the ammonium cations and the water molecules are located. N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonding between the cations and water molecules and the uncoordinating O atoms of the carboxylate groups consolidates the crystal packing.
Related literature
For general background to coordination compounds derived from carboxylic acids, see: Jin & Chen (2007a,b); Jin et al. (2007); Rueff et al. (2001); Strachan et al. (2007). For hydrogen bonding, see: Desiraju (2002).
Experimental
Crystal data
|
Refinement
|
Data collection: SMART (Bruker, 2002); cell SAINT (Bruker, 2002); data reduction: SAINT; program(s) used to solve structure: SHELXS97 (Sheldrick, 2008); program(s) used to refine structure: SHELXL97 (Sheldrick, 2008); molecular graphics: SHELXTL (Sheldrick, 2008); software used to prepare material for publication: publCIF (Westrip, 2010).
Supporting information
https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600536812038883/wm2679sup1.cif
contains datablocks global, I. DOI:Structure factors: contains datablock I. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600536812038883/wm2679Isup2.hkl
Butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylic acid (22.3.1 mg, 0.10 mmol) was dissolved in 10 ml of methanol, to this solution zinc acetate dihydrate (42.6 mg, 0.2 mmol), and 3,5-dimethylpyrazole (19.2 mg, 0.2 mmol) was added. The solution was stirred for about 2 h at room temperature, and a large amount of precipitate formed. To the suspensition concentrated ammonia solution was added until the precipitate dissolved completely. The solution was filtered into a test tube and was left standing at room temperature. Several days later colorless block crystals could be obtained.
H atoms bonded to O, and N atoms were located in a difference Fourier map. Their bond lengths were constrained to values of O—H of 0.85 Å and N—H of 0.90 Å and they were allowed to ride on their parent atoms. All other H atoms were positioned geometrically with C—H = 0.97–0.98 Å, and constrained to ride on their parent atoms with Uiso(H) = 1.2Ueq(C).
Various derivatives of
have been widely used in pharmaceutical chemistry (Strachan et al., 2007), supramolecular chemistry (Desiraju, 2002), and coordination chemistry (Rueff et al., 2001). As an extension of our studies concentrating on coordination compounds with carboxylate ligands (Jin & Chen, 2007a,b; Jin et al., 2007), we report here the of (NH4)2[Zn(C8H6O8)].4H2O, (I).The
of compound (I) contains half of the butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate anion, one ammonium cation, two water molecules and one Zn2+ cation. The butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate anion has an inversion centre located at the mid point of the central 3-C, and 4-C bond (symmetry code -x, -y, -z). The Zn2+ ion lies on a twofold rotation axis. It is surrounded by four O atoms from four symmetry-related butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate anions, forming a tetrahedral coordination geometry. Of the four coordinating O atoms, two come from the carboxylate groups in 1-position, while the other two come from the carboxylate groups in 3-position. The Zn—O bond lengths are almost equal.The Zn2+ cations and the coordinating butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate anions form a three-dimensional network with channels extending along [110] and [010] (Fig. 2). In the channels water molecules and ammonium cations are present. They are hydrogen bonded to each other through O—H···O and N—H···O interactions and also hydrogen-bonded to the uncoordinating O atoms of the carboxylate groups of the anion.
Single crystals of the title compound were obtained by reacting zinc(II) acetate dihydrate with butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylic acid in basic solution in the presence of 3,5-dimethyl pyrazole. However, 3,5-dimethyl pyrazole does not appear in the title compound. It should be noted that single crystals could not be obtained by evaporating an appropriate solution of the title compound in water or organic solvents. We found that it can be dissolved in a concentrated solution of ammonia; thus its single crystals were grown by slow evaporating its ammonia solution.
For general background to coordination compounds derived from
see: Jin & Chen (2007a,b); Jin et al. (2007); Rueff et al. (2001); Strachan et al. (2007); Desiraju (2002).Data collection: SMART (Bruker, 2002); cell
SAINT (Bruker, 2002); data reduction: SAINT (Bruker, 2002); program(s) used to solve structure: SHELXS97 (Sheldrick, 2008); program(s) used to refine structure: SHELXL97 (Sheldrick, 2008); molecular graphics: SHELXTL (Sheldrick, 2008); software used to prepare material for publication: publCIF (Westrip, 2010).Fig. 1. The molecular components of the structure of (I), showing the atom-numbering scheme and displacement ellipsoids at the 30% probability level. | |
Fig. 2. The packing of the structure of (I) showing the channel formation. Hydrogen bonds are displayed with dashed lines. |
(NH4)2[Zn(C8H6O8)]·4H2O | F(000) = 840 |
Mr = 403.65 | Dx = 1.703 Mg m−3 |
Monoclinic, C2/c | Mo Kα radiation, λ = 0.71073 Å |
Hall symbol: -C 2yc | Cell parameters from 2092 reflections |
a = 14.1153 (12) Å | θ = 2.8–27.6° |
b = 8.8505 (8) Å | µ = 1.63 mm−1 |
c = 13.5704 (11) Å | T = 298 K |
β = 111.761 (2)° | Block, colorless |
V = 1574.5 (2) Å3 | 0.36 × 0.19 × 0.12 mm |
Z = 4 |
Bruker SMART 1K CCD area-detector diffractometer | 1386 independent reflections |
Radiation source: fine-focus sealed tube | 1167 reflections with I > 2σ(I) |
Graphite monochromator | Rint = 0.089 |
phi and ω scans | θmax = 25.0°, θmin = 2.8° |
Absorption correction: multi-scan (SADABS; Bruker, 2002) | h = −16→16 |
Tmin = 0.697, Tmax = 0.823 | k = −9→10 |
3841 measured reflections | l = −16→12 |
Refinement on F2 | Primary atom site location: structure-invariant direct methods |
Least-squares matrix: full | Secondary atom site location: difference Fourier map |
R[F2 > 2σ(F2)] = 0.059 | Hydrogen site location: inferred from neighbouring sites |
wR(F2) = 0.156 | H-atom parameters constrained |
S = 1.02 | w = 1/[σ2(Fo2) + (0.1135P)2] where P = (Fo2 + 2Fc2)/3 |
1386 reflections | (Δ/σ)max < 0.001 |
105 parameters | Δρmax = 1.53 e Å−3 |
0 restraints | Δρmin = −1.30 e Å−3 |
(NH4)2[Zn(C8H6O8)]·4H2O | V = 1574.5 (2) Å3 |
Mr = 403.65 | Z = 4 |
Monoclinic, C2/c | Mo Kα radiation |
a = 14.1153 (12) Å | µ = 1.63 mm−1 |
b = 8.8505 (8) Å | T = 298 K |
c = 13.5704 (11) Å | 0.36 × 0.19 × 0.12 mm |
β = 111.761 (2)° |
Bruker SMART 1K CCD area-detector diffractometer | 1386 independent reflections |
Absorption correction: multi-scan (SADABS; Bruker, 2002) | 1167 reflections with I > 2σ(I) |
Tmin = 0.697, Tmax = 0.823 | Rint = 0.089 |
3841 measured reflections |
R[F2 > 2σ(F2)] = 0.059 | 0 restraints |
wR(F2) = 0.156 | H-atom parameters constrained |
S = 1.02 | Δρmax = 1.53 e Å−3 |
1386 reflections | Δρmin = −1.30 e Å−3 |
105 parameters |
Geometry. All e.s.d.'s (except the e.s.d. in the dihedral angle between two l.s. planes) are estimated using the full covariance matrix. The cell e.s.d.'s are taken into account individually in the estimation of e.s.d.'s in distances, angles and torsion angles; correlations between e.s.d.'s in cell parameters are only used when they are defined by crystal symmetry. An approximate (isotropic) treatment of cell e.s.d.'s is used for estimating e.s.d.'s involving l.s. planes. |
Refinement. Refinement of F2 against ALL reflections. The weighted R-factor wR and goodness of fit S are based on F2, conventional R-factors R are based on F, with F set to zero for negative F2. The threshold expression of F2 > σ(F2) is used only for calculating R-factors(gt) etc. and is not relevant to the choice of reflections for refinement. R-factors based on F2 are statistically about twice as large as those based on F, and R- factors based on ALL data will be even larger. |
x | y | z | Uiso*/Ueq | ||
Zn1 | 0.5000 | 0.50029 (6) | 0.7500 | 0.0196 (3) | |
N1 | 0.6212 (3) | 0.8163 (4) | 0.5030 (3) | 0.0379 (9) | |
H1C | 0.5861 | 0.8480 | 0.5427 | 0.045* | |
H1D | 0.6836 | 0.8588 | 0.5287 | 0.045* | |
H1A | 0.5884 | 0.8440 | 0.4350 | 0.045* | |
H1B | 0.6269 | 0.7150 | 0.5062 | 0.045* | |
O1 | 0.41853 (19) | 0.6486 (3) | 0.6404 (2) | 0.0291 (7) | |
O2 | 0.3143 (2) | 0.4535 (4) | 0.5878 (2) | 0.0340 (7) | |
O3 | 0.3480 (3) | 0.4657 (4) | 0.3648 (3) | 0.0413 (8) | |
O4 | 0.44049 (18) | 0.6425 (3) | 0.32532 (19) | 0.0262 (6) | |
O5 | 0.5186 (2) | 0.9191 (4) | 0.6280 (3) | 0.0516 (9) | |
H5C | 0.4923 | 0.8395 | 0.6420 | 0.062* | |
H5D | 0.5526 | 0.9635 | 0.6859 | 0.062* | |
O6 | 0.6370 (2) | 0.0991 (3) | 0.7995 (2) | 0.0470 (8) | |
H6C | 0.7008 | 0.0871 | 0.8163 | 0.056* | |
H6D | 0.6189 | 0.1787 | 0.7622 | 0.056* | |
C1 | 0.3369 (3) | 0.5846 (4) | 0.5744 (3) | 0.0210 (8) | |
C2 | 0.3742 (3) | 0.5970 (5) | 0.3645 (3) | 0.0244 (9) | |
C3 | 0.2700 (3) | 0.6794 (4) | 0.4801 (3) | 0.0203 (8) | |
H3 | 0.2111 | 0.6180 | 0.4378 | 0.024* | |
C4 | 0.3286 (3) | 0.7247 (4) | 0.4090 (3) | 0.0254 (9) | |
H4A | 0.2827 | 0.7823 | 0.3496 | 0.030* | |
H4B | 0.3836 | 0.7918 | 0.4494 | 0.030* |
U11 | U22 | U33 | U12 | U13 | U23 | |
Zn1 | 0.0194 (4) | 0.0239 (5) | 0.0197 (5) | 0.000 | 0.0122 (3) | 0.000 |
N1 | 0.039 (2) | 0.039 (2) | 0.042 (2) | −0.0020 (16) | 0.0213 (18) | −0.0064 (16) |
O1 | 0.0260 (14) | 0.0341 (16) | 0.0247 (15) | 0.0003 (12) | 0.0064 (12) | 0.0014 (12) |
O2 | 0.0367 (17) | 0.0293 (16) | 0.0373 (18) | 0.0002 (14) | 0.0152 (14) | 0.0075 (14) |
O3 | 0.053 (2) | 0.0317 (17) | 0.056 (2) | −0.0036 (16) | 0.0396 (18) | −0.0033 (15) |
O4 | 0.0259 (13) | 0.0337 (15) | 0.0268 (14) | 0.0008 (12) | 0.0187 (12) | −0.0014 (11) |
O5 | 0.061 (2) | 0.055 (2) | 0.053 (2) | −0.0072 (18) | 0.0373 (18) | −0.0061 (17) |
O6 | 0.0522 (18) | 0.0453 (19) | 0.0493 (19) | 0.0042 (16) | 0.0257 (16) | 0.0129 (16) |
C1 | 0.0232 (18) | 0.028 (2) | 0.0190 (18) | 0.0074 (16) | 0.0157 (16) | −0.0022 (15) |
C2 | 0.0236 (18) | 0.035 (2) | 0.0190 (19) | 0.0058 (17) | 0.0126 (16) | −0.0008 (16) |
C3 | 0.0197 (17) | 0.026 (2) | 0.0183 (18) | 0.0006 (15) | 0.0108 (15) | −0.0012 (14) |
C4 | 0.0267 (19) | 0.031 (2) | 0.025 (2) | 0.0040 (17) | 0.0170 (17) | 0.0035 (16) |
Zn1—O4i | 1.996 (2) | O4—Zn1i | 1.996 (2) |
Zn1—O4ii | 1.996 (2) | O5—H5C | 0.8499 |
Zn1—O1iii | 1.998 (3) | O5—H5D | 0.8500 |
Zn1—O1 | 1.998 (3) | O6—H6C | 0.8500 |
N1—H1C | 0.9000 | O6—H6D | 0.8500 |
N1—H1D | 0.9001 | C1—C3 | 1.529 (5) |
N1—H1A | 0.9001 | C2—C4 | 1.531 (5) |
N1—H1B | 0.9000 | C3—C4 | 1.540 (5) |
O1—C1 | 1.298 (4) | C3—C3iv | 1.548 (7) |
O2—C1 | 1.234 (5) | C3—H3 | 0.9800 |
O3—C2 | 1.220 (5) | C4—H4A | 0.9700 |
O4—C2 | 1.300 (4) | C4—H4B | 0.9700 |
O4i—Zn1—O4ii | 101.42 (14) | O2—C1—C3 | 121.7 (3) |
O4i—Zn1—O1iii | 124.21 (10) | O1—C1—C3 | 116.9 (3) |
O4ii—Zn1—O1iii | 105.67 (10) | O3—C2—O4 | 124.1 (3) |
O4i—Zn1—O1 | 105.67 (10) | O3—C2—C4 | 122.0 (4) |
O4ii—Zn1—O1 | 124.21 (10) | O4—C2—C4 | 113.9 (3) |
O1iii—Zn1—O1 | 97.83 (15) | C1—C3—C4 | 111.0 (3) |
H1C—N1—H1D | 108.3 | C1—C3—C3iv | 110.1 (3) |
H1C—N1—H1A | 109.9 | C4—C3—C3iv | 110.9 (4) |
H1D—N1—H1A | 109.9 | C1—C3—H3 | 108.2 |
H1C—N1—H1B | 109.9 | C4—C3—H3 | 108.2 |
H1D—N1—H1B | 109.9 | C3iv—C3—H3 | 108.2 |
H1A—N1—H1B | 108.9 | C2—C4—C3 | 117.2 (3) |
C1—O1—Zn1 | 110.2 (2) | C2—C4—H4A | 108.0 |
C2—O4—Zn1i | 121.1 (2) | C3—C4—H4A | 108.0 |
H5C—O5—H5D | 108.7 | C2—C4—H4B | 108.0 |
H6C—O6—H6D | 108.6 | C3—C4—H4B | 108.0 |
O2—C1—O1 | 121.4 (3) | H4A—C4—H4B | 107.2 |
O4i—Zn1—O1—C1 | 71.4 (2) | O1—C1—C3—C4 | 62.1 (4) |
O4ii—Zn1—O1—C1 | −44.7 (3) | O2—C1—C3—C3iv | 118.4 (4) |
O1iii—Zn1—O1—C1 | −159.7 (3) | O1—C1—C3—C3iv | −61.2 (4) |
Zn1—O1—C1—O2 | 5.1 (4) | O3—C2—C4—C3 | 15.6 (5) |
Zn1—O1—C1—C3 | −175.4 (2) | O4—C2—C4—C3 | −165.7 (3) |
Zn1i—O4—C2—O3 | 4.7 (5) | C1—C3—C4—C2 | 56.4 (4) |
Zn1i—O4—C2—C4 | −173.9 (2) | C3iv—C3—C4—C2 | 179.2 (3) |
O2—C1—C3—C4 | −118.4 (4) |
Symmetry codes: (i) −x+1, −y+1, −z+1; (ii) x, −y+1, z+1/2; (iii) −x+1, y, −z+3/2; (iv) −x+1/2, −y+3/2, −z+1. |
D—H···A | D—H | H···A | D···A | D—H···A |
O6—H6D···O4i | 0.85 | 1.97 | 2.814 (4) | 173 |
O6—H6C···O3v | 0.85 | 1.99 | 2.833 (5) | 173 |
O5—H5D···O6vi | 0.85 | 1.97 | 2.805 (5) | 168 |
O5—H5C···O1 | 0.85 | 1.98 | 2.816 (4) | 167 |
N1—H1B···O2i | 0.90 | 2.31 | 2.981 (5) | 131 |
N1—H1B···O3i | 0.90 | 2.30 | 3.009 (5) | 136 |
N1—H1A···O5vii | 0.90 | 2.54 | 3.153 (5) | 126 |
N1—H1A···O6viii | 0.90 | 2.24 | 2.948 (5) | 135 |
N1—H1D···O2ix | 0.90 | 1.91 | 2.810 (5) | 178 |
N1—H1C···O5 | 0.90 | 1.86 | 2.761 (5) | 177 |
Symmetry codes: (i) −x+1, −y+1, −z+1; (v) x+1/2, −y+1/2, z+1/2; (vi) x, y+1, z; (vii) −x+1, −y+2, −z+1; (viii) x, −y+1, z−1/2; (ix) x+1/2, y+1/2, z. |
Experimental details
Crystal data | |
Chemical formula | (NH4)2[Zn(C8H6O8)]·4H2O |
Mr | 403.65 |
Crystal system, space group | Monoclinic, C2/c |
Temperature (K) | 298 |
a, b, c (Å) | 14.1153 (12), 8.8505 (8), 13.5704 (11) |
β (°) | 111.761 (2) |
V (Å3) | 1574.5 (2) |
Z | 4 |
Radiation type | Mo Kα |
µ (mm−1) | 1.63 |
Crystal size (mm) | 0.36 × 0.19 × 0.12 |
Data collection | |
Diffractometer | Bruker SMART 1K CCD area-detector |
Absorption correction | Multi-scan (SADABS; Bruker, 2002) |
Tmin, Tmax | 0.697, 0.823 |
No. of measured, independent and observed [I > 2σ(I)] reflections | 3841, 1386, 1167 |
Rint | 0.089 |
(sin θ/λ)max (Å−1) | 0.595 |
Refinement | |
R[F2 > 2σ(F2)], wR(F2), S | 0.059, 0.156, 1.02 |
No. of reflections | 1386 |
No. of parameters | 105 |
H-atom treatment | H-atom parameters constrained |
Δρmax, Δρmin (e Å−3) | 1.53, −1.30 |
Computer programs: SMART (Bruker, 2002), SAINT (Bruker, 2002), SHELXS97 (Sheldrick, 2008), SHELXL97 (Sheldrick, 2008), SHELXTL (Sheldrick, 2008), publCIF (Westrip, 2010).
D—H···A | D—H | H···A | D···A | D—H···A |
O6—H6D···O4i | 0.85 | 1.97 | 2.814 (4) | 172.8 |
O6—H6C···O3ii | 0.85 | 1.99 | 2.833 (5) | 173.1 |
O5—H5D···O6iii | 0.85 | 1.97 | 2.805 (5) | 167.5 |
O5—H5C···O1 | 0.85 | 1.98 | 2.816 (4) | 167.4 |
N1—H1B···O2i | 0.90 | 2.31 | 2.981 (5) | 131.4 |
N1—H1B···O3i | 0.90 | 2.30 | 3.009 (5) | 135.7 |
N1—H1A···O5iv | 0.90 | 2.54 | 3.153 (5) | 125.8 |
N1—H1A···O6v | 0.90 | 2.24 | 2.948 (5) | 134.7 |
N1—H1D···O2vi | 0.90 | 1.91 | 2.810 (5) | 177.5 |
N1—H1C···O5 | 0.90 | 1.86 | 2.761 (5) | 177.4 |
Symmetry codes: (i) −x+1, −y+1, −z+1; (ii) x+1/2, −y+1/2, z+1/2; (iii) x, y+1, z; (iv) −x+1, −y+2, −z+1; (v) x, −y+1, z−1/2; (vi) x+1/2, y+1/2, z. |
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge financial support by the Education Office Foundation of Zhejiang Province (project No. Y201017321) and the Innovation Project of Zhejiang A & F University.
References
Bruker (2002). SADABS, SMART and SAINT. Bruker AXS Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Google Scholar
Desiraju, G. R. (2002). Acc. Chem. Res. 35, 565–573. Web of Science CrossRef PubMed CAS Google Scholar
Jin, S. W. & Chen, W. Z. (2007a). Polyhedron, 26, 3074–3084. Web of Science CSD CrossRef CAS Google Scholar
Jin, S. W. & Chen, W. Z. (2007b). Inorg. Chim. Acta, 12, 3756–3764. Web of Science CSD CrossRef Google Scholar
Jin, S. W., Wang, D. Q. & Chen, W. Z. (2007). Inorg. Chem. Commun. 10, 685–689. Web of Science CSD CrossRef CAS Google Scholar
Rueff, J. M., Masciocchi, N., Rabu, P., Sironi, A. & Skoulios, A. (2001). Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. pp. 2843–2848. CrossRef Google Scholar
Sheldrick, G. M. (2008). Acta Cryst. A64, 112–122. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Strachan, C. J., Rades, T. & Gordon, K. C. (2007). J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 59, 261–269. Web of Science CrossRef PubMed CAS Google Scholar
Westrip, S. P. (2010). J. Appl. Cryst. 43, 920–925. Web of Science CrossRef CAS IUCr Journals Google Scholar
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are cited.
Various derivatives of carboxylic acids have been widely used in pharmaceutical chemistry (Strachan et al., 2007), supramolecular chemistry (Desiraju, 2002), and coordination chemistry (Rueff et al., 2001). As an extension of our studies concentrating on coordination compounds with carboxylate ligands (Jin & Chen, 2007a,b; Jin et al., 2007), we report here the crystal structure of (NH4)2[Zn(C8H6O8)].4H2O, (I).
The asymmetric unit of compound (I) contains half of the butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate anion, one ammonium cation, two water molecules and one Zn2+ cation. The butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate anion has an inversion centre located at the mid point of the central 3-C, and 4-C bond (symmetry code -x, -y, -z). The Zn2+ ion lies on a twofold rotation axis. It is surrounded by four O atoms from four symmetry-related butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate anions, forming a tetrahedral coordination geometry. Of the four coordinating O atoms, two come from the carboxylate groups in 1-position, while the other two come from the carboxylate groups in 3-position. The Zn—O bond lengths are almost equal.
The Zn2+ cations and the coordinating butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylate anions form a three-dimensional network with channels extending along [110] and [010] (Fig. 2). In the channels water molecules and ammonium cations are present. They are hydrogen bonded to each other through O—H···O and N—H···O interactions and also hydrogen-bonded to the uncoordinating O atoms of the carboxylate groups of the anion.
Single crystals of the title compound were obtained by reacting zinc(II) acetate dihydrate with butane-1,2,3,4-tetracarboxylic acid in basic solution in the presence of 3,5-dimethyl pyrazole. However, 3,5-dimethyl pyrazole does not appear in the title compound. It should be noted that single crystals could not be obtained by evaporating an appropriate solution of the title compound in water or organic solvents. We found that it can be dissolved in a concentrated solution of ammonia; thus its single crystals were grown by slow evaporating its ammonia solution.