Calcium and strontium thio­sulfate,CaS2O3·6H2O and SrS2O3·5H2O

In contrast to former morphological studies, the results presented here show that calcium(II) thio­sulfate hexahydrate, CaS₂O₃·6H₂O, crystallizes centrosymmetrically in the pinacoidal class (point group ). The structure is characterized by chains, parallel to 100], of alternating S₂O₃ and Ca(H₂O)₆O₂ groups sharing common O atoms. The composition of each chain link is Ca(H₂O)₆(S₂O₃)]. The geometry is analysed and compared in detail with the structural features of monoclinic strontium(II) thio­sulfate pentahydrate, SrS₂O₃·5H₂O, which forms layers, parallel to (100), of alternating S₂O₃ and Sr(H₂O)₄O₅ groups connected via common O atoms and O–O edges. Each layer contains Sr(H₂O)₃O(S₂O₃)]_∞ as the unique repeat unit.