The crystal structure of cualstibite-1M (formerly cyanophyllite), its revised chemical formula and its relation to cualstibite-1T

Autor(en)
Uwe Kolitsch, Gerald Giester, Thomas Pippinger
Abstrakt

The crystal structure of the rare secondary mineral cualstibite-1M (formerly cyanophyllite), originally reported to have the chemical formula 10CuO·2Al2O3·3Sb2O3·25H2O and orthorhombic symmetry, was solved from single-crystal intensity data (Mo-Ka X-radiation, CCD area detector, 293 K, 2?max?=?80) collected on a twinned crystal containing very minor Mg. The mineral is monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), with a?=?9.938(1), b?=?8.890(1), c?=?5.493(1) Å, ß?=?102.90(1)°, V?=?473.05(11) Å3; R1(F)?=?0.0326. All crystals investigated turned out to be non-merohedric twins. The atomic arrangement has a distinctly layered character. Brucite-like sheets composed of two [4?+?2]-coordinated (Cu,Al,Mg) sites are linked by weak hydrogen-bonding (O···O?~?2.80 Å) to isolated regular Sb(OH)6 octahedra (?=?1.975 Å). The layered, pseudotrigonal character explains the perfect cleavage and the proneness to twinning. The Sb site is fully occupied and the two (Cu,Al,Mg) sites have occupancies of Cu0.79Al0.17Mg0.04 and Cu0.72Al0.23Mg0.05. The Cu-richer site shows a slightly stronger Jahn-Teller-distortion. The resulting empirical formula, which necessitates a H2O-for-OH substitution to obtain charge balance, is (Cu2.23Al0.63Mg0.14)(OH)5.63(H2O)0.37[Sb5+(OH)6]. The ideal chemical formula is (Cu,Al)3(OH)6[Sb5+(OH)6], with Cu:Al = 2:1. The structure is closely related to those of trigonal cualstibite-1T [Cu2AlSb(OH)12, P-3, with ordered Cu-Al distribution in the brucite sheets], and its Zn analogue zincalstibite-1T [Zn2AlSb(OH)12]. Cualstibite-1M and cualstibite-1T are polytypes and, together with zincalstibite-1T, zincalstibite-9R and omsite, belong to the cualstibite group within the hydrotalcite supergroup, which comprises all natural members of the large family of layered double hydroxides (LDH).

Organisation(en)
Institut für Mineralogie und Kristallographie
Externe Organisation(en)
Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHM)
Journal
Mineralogy and Petrology
Band
107
Seiten
171-178
Anzahl der Seiten
8
ISSN
0930-0708
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-012-0252-4
Publikationsdatum
2013
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
105113 Kristallographie, 105116 Mineralogie
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/1b665df4-6d57-42bf-ac95-ba8e9cbedf5b