Publication Date:
2014-10-23
Description:
The crystal structure of the fibrous mineral arangasite, Al 2 F(PO 4 )(SO 4 )·9H 2 O from the Alyaskitovoje deposit, Eastern Yakutiya, Russia, was solved using low-temperature single-crystal data from synchrotron radiation and refined against F 2 to R = 9.8%. Arangasite crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P 2/ a , with unit-cell parameters a = 7.073(1), b = 9.634(2), c = 10.827(2) Å, β = 100.40(1)°, V = 725.7(7) Å 3 and Z = 2. The positions of all the independent H atoms were obtained by difference-Fourier techniques and refined in an isotropic approximation. The arangasite crystal structure is built from one-dimensional chains of Al octahedra and PO 4 tetrahedra sharing vertices, quasi-isolated SO 4 tetrahedra and H 2 O molecules. All O atoms are involved in the system of H bonding, acting as donors and/or acceptors. Hydrogen bonding serves as the only mechanism providing linkage between the main structural fragments, thus maintaining the framework. Chains of corner-sharing Al octahedra and P tetrahedra in the arangasite structure are topologically identical to the chains built from (Fe, Al) octahedra and P tetrahedra in the crystal structure of destinezite, Fe 2 (OH)(PO 4 )(SO 4 )·6H 2 O. It has been shown that in spite of very similar chemical formulae, arangasite and sanjuanite, Al 2 (OH)(PO 4 )(SO 4 )·9H 2 O, are not isotypic.
Print ISSN:
0026-461X
Electronic ISSN:
1471-8022
Topics:
Geosciences
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