The crystal structure of an iodine sorption complex of fully dehydrated, fully Cd2+-exchanged zeolite X,
Cd46Si100Al92O384 · 89.6I per unit cell (a = 24.861(8) Å), has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction
methods in the cubic space group Fd3̄m at 21(1) °C. The crystal was prepared by ion exchange in a slightly
basic aqueous stream 0.05 M in Cd2+, followed by washing with distilled water at 80 °C. Dehydration was
then done at 450 °C and 2 × 10-6 Torr, followed by exposure in situ to zeolitically dry iodine vapor. The
structure was refined to the final error indices R
1 = 0.044 and R
2 = 0.043 with 263 reflections, for which I
> 3σ(I). Forty-six Cd2+ ions are found at four crystallographic sites: 14 at site I at the center of the hexagonal
prism (Cd−O = 2.389(5) Å), 4 at site I‘ in the sodalite cavity just outside the hexagonal prism (Cd−O =
2.441(8) Å), 2.4 at site II‘ in the sodalite cavity (Cd−O = 2.200(9) Å), and the remaining 25.6 at site II near
single six-oxygen rings in the supercage (Cd−O = 2.218(7) Å). All 44.8 diiodine molecules sorbed per unit
cell have disproportionated to give 12.8 n-I5
- anions with symmetry 2 and 6.4 square cyclo-I4
2+ cations. The
sorption reaction ends precisely when the eight supercages per unit cell are full (12.8/2 + 6.4/4 = 8.0). In
cyclo-I4
2+, I−I = 2.757(14) Å and 2.796(13) Å, and I−I−I = 90.0(5)°; each iodine atom is 3.167(10) Å
from a framework oxygen (I−I···O = 159.4(4)°). In n-I5
-, the central bond lengths are 2.473(14) Å and the
terminal bond lengths are 2.534(13) Å, all less than 2.67 Å, the I−I distance in I2. The central bond angle,
114.8(7)°, is indicative of I3
+, indicating that the terminal atoms are iodide ions. That the terminal atoms
coordinate to Cd2+ also indicates that they are iodide ions. The 12.8 n-I5
- anions per unit cell each bridge
between two site-II Cd2+ ions in the supercage.