Comparative study of the flexibility of structural complexes in uranyl sulfates, chromates, and molybdates involves statistical analysis of the U3O br 3T bond angles and T3O bond lengths in TO 4 tetrahedra. The analysis is based on the available high-precision (R 1 < 0.06) crystal structure data. The mean bond lengths in the TO 4 tetrahedra are 1.473(1), 1.647(3), and 1.762(2) A for T = S, Cr, and Mo, respectively. The T3O br bonds with bridging oxygen atoms are, as a rule, longer than the T3O t bonds with the terminal oxygen atoms. Analysis of the distribution of U3O br 3T bond angles suggests increased flexibility of the U3O br 3Mo units compared to the corresponding units in the sulfates and chromates, which is responsible for the greater structural diversity of uranyl molybdates, with formation of framework structures being possible. The mean angles U3O br 3T are within 141.1o3142.6o.Uranyl salts containing tetrahedral TO 4 anions (T = S, Cr, Se, Mo) form a unique class of uranyl compounds characterized by diversity of structural complexes and structural types. This is due both to the possibility of different coordination of uranium and hexavalent element atoms and to diversity of topological alternatives for their combination in structural complexes. The latter factor, in turn, is due to increased flexibility of U3O br 3T units, where O br denotes a bridging oxygen atom belonging simultaneously to the coordination polyhedron of the uranium atom and the TO 4 tetrahedron. It can be expected that the complexity of the crystal structure is directly associated with the flexibility of the U3O br 3T units: The wider the range of variation of the U3O br 3T bond angle, the more probable is formation of a structure of high complexity. Among uranyl compounds with tetrahedral TO 4 anions (T = S, Cr, Se, Mo), molybdatouranylates are the most diverse. At least ten types of three-dimensional framework structures formed by UO 7 pentagonal bipyramids and MoO 4 tetrahedra sharing common vertices are known [139]. On the contrary, sulfates and chromates commonly form chain and lamellar structures [10 314], with framework structures being relatively seldom [15,16].In this work, we attempted a quantitative study of the flexibility of structural complexes in uranyl sulfates, chromates, and molybdates, based on available data on U3O br 3T bond angles and T3O bond lengths. We considered only structural complexes in which the UO n polyhedra (n = 6, 7) and TO 4 tetrahedra share common vertices (an example is shown in Fig. 1).
INITIAL DATAAs initial data for statistical treatment we used the data set on crystal structures in which the uranyl complexes contain no organic ligands. At the same time, compounds containing so-called [templates] (e.g., amines) were included in consideration, since the uranyl complexes in them are linked to the organic moiety by hydrogen bonds only. We chose only the structures refined to R 1 < 0.06. The second criterion was high accuracy of determination of interatomic distances (the standard errors of the T3...