The quaternary arsenide oxides Ce9Au5–x As8O6 and Pr9Au5–x As8O6

Abstract

Abstract The quaternary gold arsenide oxides Ce9Au5−x As8O6 and Pr9Au5−x As8O6 were synthesized from the rare earth elements (RE), rare earth oxides, arsenic and gold powder at maximum annealing temperatures of 1173 K. The structures were refined from single crystal X-ray diffractometer data: Pnnm, a=1321.64(6) pm, b=4073.0(3), c=423.96(2), wR2=0.0842, 3106 F 2 values, 160 variables for Ce9Au4.91(4)As8O6 and Pnnm, a=1315.01(4), b=4052.87(8), c=420.68(1) pm, wR2=0.0865, 5313 F 2 values, 160 variables for Pr9Au4.75(1)As8O6. They represent a new structure type and show a further extension of pnictide oxide crystal chemistry. A complex polyanionic gold arsenide network [Au5As8]15− (with some disorder in the gold substructure) is charge compensated with polycationic strands of condensed edge-sharing O@RE 4/4 and O@RE 4/3 tetrahedra ([RE 4O3]2 12+) as well as RE 3+ cations in cavities.