The structure of dilead(II) diiron(III) digermanium(IV) oxide, with a minor (2Fe/Mg+Ge) substitution arising from the growth conditions, has been determined using flux-grown single crystals. Interesting features of the structure include an unsymmetrical splitting of the Pb site and a strong anisotropy of the bridging O atom of the Ge207 group, both of which also occur in the structure of the silicate mineral melanotekite, Pb2Fe2Si209. These structural features can be associated with the stereoactivity of the Pb 2÷ lone pairs, which is found to be less pronounced in the germanate than in the silicate structure.
CommentThe Pb2Fe2Ge209 compound has previously been synthesized in microcrystalline form and has been identified by powder X-ray diffraction as an analogue of the silicate mineral melanotekite, PbzFezSi209 (Gabelica-Robert & Tarte, 1979). In fact, the crystal structure of the silicate mineral itself was only recently solved in the correct space group, Pbcn, for a Pbz(Mn,Fe)2Si209 mixed composition along the kentrolite-melanotekite series (Moore et al., 1991), following an early attempt in the C2221 space group (Gabrielson, 1962). The structure determination in Pbcn revealed a splitting of the Pb site in the Pb2(Mn,Fe)2Si209 structure, which was attributed to the stereoactive lone pair of the Pb 2÷ cation (Moore et al., 1991). Similar splitting of Pb sites has also been reported in the structures of other Pb 2+-containing compounds, such as PbFel2Oi9 (Moore et al., 1989) and PbAI2Si208 (Benna et al., 1996). In view of the difficulties encountered during the structure refinement of the melanotekite mineral [i.e. diffuse streaking in precession photographs, violations of space-group absences, non-positive definite displacement parameter for one O atom (Moore et al., 1991)], and because good-quality crystals of the PbzFezGe209 compound were available, it was decided to carry out the structure determination of the germanate analogue for comparison purposes.
AbstractTrigallium phosphorus heptaoxide was synthesized by high-pressure hydrothermal synthesis. Its structure comprises PO4 tetrahedra and GaO5 trigonal bipyramids connected by edges to form Ga3Ol0 clusters. It is isotypic with Fe3PO7 and is the third known compound in the Ga-P-O system. © 1998 International Union of Crystallography Printed in Great Britain -all fights reserved Fig. 1. Perspective view of the Ga3PO7 structure projected along the c axis with the a axis horizontal and the b axis close to vertical. The GaO5 and PO4 polyhedra are represented as light and medium gray, respectively. 03 02 03 J~ O1 ~ Ga 03 02 02 Fig. 2. A view of the GaO5 and PO4 units. The displacement ellipsoids are plotted at the 90% probability level.