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The zeroth-order reaction of the hydrolysis of sodium polyphosphate in water at pH = 0 can be explained assuming the formation of a pentacovalent terminal phosphorus intermediate. A terminal unit is activated for hydrolysis by protonation of the double-bond oxygen on that unit followed by a nucleophilic attack of water. Proton transfer from an OH group to a P−O−P bond breaks the bond, thereby shortening the phosphate polymer. A mathematical equation is developed to explain the reaction order of the hydrolysis.

The Raman spectra of seven A(2)MWO(6) tungstate double perovskites are analysed. Ba(2)MgWO(6) is a cubic double perovskite with Fm3[combining macron]m symmetry and its Raman spectrum contain three modes that can be assigned in a straightforward manner. A fourth mode, the asymmetric stretch of the [WO(6)](6-) octahedron, is too weak to be observed. The symmetry of Ba(2)CaWO(6) is lowered to tetragonal I4/m due to octahedral tilting, but the distortion is sufficiently subtle that the extra bands predicted to appear in the Raman spectrum are not observed. The remaining five compounds have additional octahedral tilts that lower the symmetry to monoclinic P2(1)/n. The further reduction of symmetry leads to the appearance of additional lattice modes involving translations of the A-site cations and librations of the octahedra. Comparing the Raman spectra of fourteen different A(2)MWO(6) tungstate double perovskites shows that the frequency of the symmetric stretch (ν(1)) of the [WO(6)](6-) octahedron is relatively low for cubic perovskites with tolerance factors greater than one due to underbonding of the tungsten and/or M cation. The frequency of this mode increases rapidly as the tolerance factor drops below one, before decreasing gradually as the octahedral tilting gets larger. The frequency of the oxygen bending mode (ν(5)) is shown to be dependent on the mass of the A-site cation due to coupling of the internal bending mode with external A-site cation translation modes.