A series of layered oxychalcogenide and oxypnictide solids is described that contain oxide layers separated by distinct layers, which contain the softer chalcogenide (S, Se, Te) or pnictide (P, As, Sb, Bi) anions. The relationships between the crystal structures adopted by these compounds are described, and the physical and chemical properties of these materials are related to the structures and the properties of the elements. The properties exhibited by the oxychalcogenide materials include semiconductor properties, for example, in LaOCuCh (Ch = chalcogenide) and derivatives, unusual magnetic properties exhibited by the class Sr 2MO 2Cu 2-deltaS 2 (M = Mn, Co, Ni), and redox properties exhibited by the materials Sr 2MnO 2Cu 2 m-0.5 S m+1 ( m = 1-3) and Sr 4Mn 3O 7.5Cu 2Ch 2 (Ch = S, Se). Recent results in the oxychalcogenide area are reviewed, and some new results on the intriguing series of compounds Sr 2MO 2Cu 2-deltaS 2 (M = Mn, Co, Ni) are reported. Oxypnictides have received less recent attention, but this is changing: a new frenzy of research is underway following the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity (>40 K) in derivatives of the layered oxyarsenide LaOFeAs. The early results in this exciting new area will be reviewed.

All of the copper in the layered oxysulfides Sr2MnO2Cu1.5S2 and Sr2MnO2CU3.5S3 may be extruded as the element and the copper ions replaced quasi-reversibly by lithium ions in reductive topotactic ion exchange reactions; dramatic changes in magnetic properties result.

An homologous series of layered oxysulfides Sr2MnO2Cu(2m-delta)S(m+1) with metamagnetic properties is described. Sr2MnO2Cu(2-delta)S2 (m = 1), Sr2MnO2Cu(4-delta)S3 (m = 2) and Sr2MnO2Cu(6-delta)S4 (m = 3), consist of MnO2 sheets separated from antifluorite-type copper sulfide layers of variable thickness by Sr(2+) ions. All three compounds show substantial and similar copper deficiencies (delta approximately equal to 0.5) in the copper sulfide layers, and single-crystal X-ray and powder neutron diffraction measurements show that the copper ions in the m = 2 and m = 3 compounds are crystallographically disordered, consistent with the possibility of high two-dimensional copper ion mobility. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show high-temperature Curie-Weiss behavior with magnetic moments consistent with high spin manganese ions which have been oxidized to the (2+delta)+ state in order to maintain a full Cu-3d/S-3p valence band, and the compounds are correspondingly p-type semiconductors with resistivities around 25 Omega cm at 295 K. Positive Weiss temperatures indicate net ferromagnetic interactions between moments. Accordingly, magnetic susceptibility measurements and low-temperature powder neutron diffraction measurements show that the moments within a MnO(2) sheet couple ferromagnetically and that weaker antiferromagnetic coupling between sheets leads to A-type antiferromagnets in zero applied magnetic field. Sr2MnO2Cu(5.5)S4 and Sr2MnO2Cu(3.5)S3 are metamagnets which may be driven into the fully ordered ferromagnetic state below 25 K by the application of fields of 0.06 and 1.3 T respectively. The relationships between the compositions, structures, and physical properties of these compounds, and the prospects for chemical control of the properties, are discussed.

The layered oxysulfides Sr2MnO2Cu2m-0.5Sm+1 (m = 1-3) consist of alternating perovskite-type Sr2MnO2 layers and copper sulfide layers. The copper ions can be replaced electrochemically and reversibly by Li. The lithiated materials were studied by Li MAS NMR, and Li resonances were observed with shifts that could be rationalized based on the number of sulfide layers. The materials were cycled versus Li and showed enhanced capacity retention in comparison to pure Cu2S; the good electrochemical performance was ascribed to the presence of the layered framework structure and rapid Li+ and Cu+ conductivity in the sulfide layers.