Neue thermische Abbauprodukte von Ln2CeMO6Cl3 (M = Nb,Ta; Ln = La–Sm) – Darstellung von strukturverwandtem (La, Tb)3,5TaO6Cl4–x

Contributions on the Investigation of Inorganic Nonstoichiometric Compounds. XLV. New Thermal Decomposition Products of Ln₂CeMO₆Cl₃ – Preparation of Structure‐related (La, Tb)_3.5TaO₆Cl_4–x The thermal decomposition (T £ 900–1050°C) of Ln₂CeMO₆Cl₃ (M = Nb, Ta; Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm) leads to the formation of two mixed‐valenced phases (Ln, Ce)_3.25MO₆Cl_3.5–x (phase ‘‘AB”︁”︁) and (Ln, Ce)_3.5MO₆Cl_4–x (phase ‘‘BB”︁”︁) and to the formation of chlorine according to redox‐reactions between Ce⁴⁺ and Cl^–. Single crystals of both phases (Ln, Ce)_3.25MO₆Cl_3.5–x (‘‘AB”︁”︁) and (Ln, Ce)_3.5MO₆Cl_4–x (‘‘BB”︁”︁) were obtained by chemical transport reactions using both powder of Ln₂CeMO₆Cl₃ (phase ‘‘A”︁”︁) and powder of (Ln, Ce)_3.25MO₆Cl_3.5–x (phase ‘‘AB”︁”︁) as starting materials and chlorine (p{Cl₂; 298 K} = 1 atm) or HCl (p{HCl; 298 K} = 1 atm) as transport agent. A crystal of (La, Ce)_3.25NbO₆Cl_3.5–x (”︁AB”︁”︁) (space group: C2/m, a = 35.288(1) Å, b = 5.418(5) Å, c = 9.522(1) Å, β = 98.95(7)°, Z = 4) was investigated by x‐ray diffraction methods, a crystal of (Pr, Ce)_3.5NbO₆Cl_4–x (”︁BB”︁”︁) was investigated by synchrotron radiation (λ = 0.56 Å) diffraction methods. The lattice constants are a = 18.863(6) Å, b = 5.454(5) Å, c = 9.527(6) Å, β = 102.44(3)° and Z = 4. Structure determination in the space group C2/m (No. 12) let to R1 = 0.0313. Main building units are NbO₆‐polyhedra with slightly distorted trigonally prismatic environment for Nb and chains of face‐sharing Cl₆‐octahedra along [010]. The rare earth ions are coordinated by chlorine and oxygen atoms. These main structure features confirmed the expected relation to the starting material Ln₂CeMO₆Cl₃ (phase ”︁A”︁”︁) and to (Ln, Ce)_3.25MO₆Cl_3.5–x (phase ”︁AB”︁”︁).