A Novel Mineral-like Copper Phosphate Chloride with a Disordered Guest Structure: Crystal Chemistry and Magnetic Properties

Abstract

Novel copper phosphate chloride has been obtained under middle-temperature hydrothermal conditions. Its crystal structure was established based on the low-temperature X-ray diffraction data: Na2Li0.75(Cs,K)0.5[Cu5(PO4)4Cl]·3.5(H2O,OH), sp. gr. C2/m, a = 19.3951(8) Å, b = 9.7627(3) Å, c = 9.7383(4) Å, β = 99.329(4)°, T = 150 K, MoKα (λ = 0.71073 Å), R = 0.049. The crystal structure includes tetrameric copper clusters as the main building blocks, which are built of four CuO4Cl pyramids sharing apical Cl vertices. The clusters are combined through phosphate groups and additional copper-centered polyhedra to form two mostly ordered periodic layers. Between the layers and inside the framework channels, alkali ions, H2O molecules, or OH groups are statistically distributed. Na2Li0.75(Cs,K)0.5[Cu5(PO4)4Cl]·3.5(H2O,OH) is a synthetic modification of a sampleite-polymorph of the lavendulan mineral group and represents a new member in a mero-plesiotype series of copper phosphates and arsenates, for which the crystal structures contain two-periodic [Cu4X(TO4)4]∞ modules (T = As, P; X = Cl, O). Magnetically, this phase exhibits the phase transition at TC = 6.5 K, below which it possesses a weak ferromagnetic moment.