Structural chemistry of A3CuBO6 (A = Ca, Sr; B = Mn, Ru, Ir) as a function of temperature

Variable temperature X-ray and neutron powder diffraction techniques have been used to identify structural phase transitions in Cu-rich A(3)A'BO(6) phases. A transition from monoclinic to rhombohedral symmetry was observed by X-ray diffraction between 700 and 500 K in Sr(3)Cu(1-x)M(x)IrO(6) (M = Ni, Zn; 0 < or = x < or = 0.5). The temperature of the phase change decreased in a linear manner with Cu-content and was essentially independent of the nature of M. Ca(3.1)Cu(0.9)MnO(6) was shown to pass from a rhombohedral phase to a triclinic phase on cooling below 290 K; the structure of the triclinic phase was refined against neutron diffraction data collected at 2 K. Ca(3.1)Cu(0.9)RuO(6) undergoes a transition between a disordered rhombohedral phase and an ordered monoclinic phase when cooled below 623 K. Neutron diffraction has been used to determine the structure as a function of temperature in the range 523 < or =T/K < or = 723 and hence to determine an order parameter for the low temperature phase; the second-order transition is shown to be incomplete 100 K below the critical temperature.     

Crystalline, mixed-valence manganese analogue of prussian blue: magnetic, spectroscopic, X-ray and neutron diffraction studies

The compound of stoichiometry Mn(II)3[Mn(III)(CN)6]2.zH2O (z = 12-16) (1) forms air-stable, transparent red crystals. Low-temperature single crystal optical spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction provide compelling evidence for N-bonded high-spin manganese(II), and C-bonded low-spin manganese(III) ions arranged in a disordered, face-centered cubic lattice analogous to that of Prussian Blue. X-ray and neutron diffraction show structured diffuse scattering indicative of partially correlated (rather than random) substitutions of [Mn(III)(CN)6] ions by (H2O)6 clusters. Magnetic susceptibility measurements and elastic neutron scattering experiments indicate a ferrimagnetic structure below the critical temperature Tc = 35.5 K.     

Sr(3)Co(2)O(4.33)h(0.84): an extended transition metal oxide-hydride

Reaction of the n = 2 Ruddlesden-Popper oxide Sr(3)Co(2)O(5.80) with CaH(2) yields an extended oxide-hydride phase: Sr(3)Co(2)O(4.33)H(0.84). Neutron powder diffraction data reveal the material adopts a body-centered orthorhombic structure (Immm: a = 3.7551(5) ?, b = 3.7048(4) ?, c = 21.480(3) ?) in which the hydride ions are accommodated within disordered CoO(1.16)H(0.46) layers. Low temperature neutron powder diffraction data show no evidence for long-range magnetic order, suggesting the chemical disorder in the anion lattice of the material leads to magnetic frustration.     

Magnetism and structural chemistry of the n=2 Ruddlesden-Popper phase La3LiMnO7

Polycrystalline samples of the n=2 Ruddlesden-Popper phase La₃LiMnO₇ have been prepared and characterized. X-ray and neutron diffraction suggest that the structure is tetragonal with a disordered distribution of Li and Mn cations over the octahedral sites, but ⁶Li MAS NMR shows that the Li and Mn are 1:1 ordered locally. Electron microscopy shows that the stacking of the cation-ordered, perovskite-like bilayers along the crystallographic z-axis is disordered on the distance scale sampled by X-ray and neutron diffraction. Magnetometry data and neutron diffraction data collected at 2 K together suggest that the Mn cations within each structural domain order antiferromagnetically at 14 K, but that the disorder along z prevents the establishment of long-range magnetic order.     

Ammoniated alkali fullerides (ND(3))(x)NaA(2)C(60): ammonia specific effects and superconductivity

The crystal structure of the superconducting (ND(3))(x)()NaA(2)C(60) (0.7 < or = x < or = 1, A= K, Rb) fullerides (T(c)= 6-15 K) has been studied by synchrotron X-ray and neutron powder diffraction. It is face-centered cubic (fcc) to low temperatures with Na(+)-ND(3) pairs residing in the octahedral interstices. These are disordered over the corners of two "interpenetrating" cubes with the Na(+) ions and the N atoms displaced by approximately 2.0 A and approximately 0.5 A from the center of the site and statically disordered over the corners of the inner and outer cube, respectively. Close contacts between the D atoms of the ND(3) molecules and electron rich 6:6 C-C bonds of neighboring C(60) units provide the signature of weak N-D.pi hydrogen-bonding interactions, which control the intermolecular packing in the crystal and may determine the unusual superconducting properties.     

New sodalite frameworks; synthetic tugtupite and a beryllosilicate framework with a 3:1 Si:Be ratio

Compounds of the formula Na8[Si(6 +y)Be(y)Al(6 - 2y)O24]X2, with X = Cl and Br, and y = 1, 2 and 3 have been synthesised and structurally characterised by combined powder X-ray and neutron diffraction profile analysis. These materials adopt the sodalite framework (SOD) with the tetrahedral species, BeO4, AlO4 and SiO4, disordered across the framework positions. Na8[Si8Be2Al2O24]Cl2, (y = 2), is a synthetic analogue of the naturally occurring semi-precious gemstone tugtupite, while Na8[Si9Be3O24]X2, X = Cl and Br represents a new tetrahedral framework stoichiometry with a Si ratio Be ratio of 3 ratio 1. Additional characterisation using 29Si MASNMR, IR spectroscopy and high-temperature, neutron diffraction show that the observed structure-property trends found when modelling sodalite materials can be extended to these new framework compositions.     

REMGa3Ge and RE3Ni3Ga8Ge3 (M = Ni, Co; RE = rare-earth element): new intermetallics synthesized in liquid gallium. X-ray, electron, and neutron structure determination and magnetism

New quaternary intermetallic phases REMGa(3)Ge (1) (RE = Y, Sm, Tb, Gd, Er, Tm; M = Ni, Co) and RE(3)Ni(3)Ga(8)Ge(3) (2) (RE = Sm, Gd) were obtained from exploratory reactions involving rare-earth elements (RE), transition metal (M), Ge, and excess liquid Ga the reactive solvent. The crystal structures were solved with single-crystal X-ray and electron diffraction. The crystals of 1 and 2 are tetragonal. Single-crystal X-ray data: YNiGa(3)Ge, a = 4.1748(10) A, c = 23.710(8) A, V = 413.24(2) A(3), I4/mmm, Z = 4; Gd(3)Ni(3)Ga(8)Ge(3), a = 4.1809(18) A, c = 17.035(11) A, V = 297.8(3) A(3), P4/mmm, Z = 1. Both compounds feature square nets of Ga atoms. The distribution of Ga and Ge atoms in the REMGa(3)Ge was determined with neutron diffraction. The neutron experiments revealed that in 1 the Ge atoms are specifically located at the 4e crystallographic site, while Ga atoms are at 4d and 8g. The crystal structures of these compounds are related and could be derived from the consecutive stacking of disordered [MGa](2) puckered layers, monatomic RE-Ge planes and [MGa(4)Ge(2)] slabs. Complex superstructures with modulations occurring in the ab-plane and believed to be associated with the square nets of Ga atoms were found by electron diffraction. The magnetic measurements show antiferromagnetic ordering of the moments located on the RE atoms at low temperature, and Curie-Weiss behavior at higher temperatures with the values of mu(eff) close to those expected for RE(3+) free ions.     

Solid phases of cyclopentane: combined experimental and simulation study

The phase diagram of cyclopentane has been studied by powder neutron diffraction, providing diffraction patterns for phases I, II, and III, over a range of temperatures and pressures. The putative phase IV was not observed. The structure of the ordered phase III has been solved by single-crystal diffraction. Computational modeling reveals that there are many equienergetic ordered structures for cyclopentane within a small energy range. Molecular dynamics simulations reproduce the structures and diffraction patterns for phases I and III and also show an intermediate disordered phase, which is used to interpret phase II.     

Mn(I) in an extended oxide: the synthesis and characterization of La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO(2+δ) (0.6 ≤ x ≤ 1)

Reduction of La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO(3) (0.6 ≤ x ≤ 1) perovskite phases with sodium hydride yields materials of composition La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO(2+δ). The calcium-rich phases (x = 0.9, 1) adopt (La(0.9)Ca(0.1))(0.5)Mn(0.5)O disordered rocksalt structures. However local structure analysis using reverse Monte Carlo refinement of models against pair distribution functions obtained from neutron total scattering data reveals lanthanum-rich La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO(2+δ) (x = 0.6, 0.67, 0.7) phases adopt disordered structures consisting of an intergrowth of sheets of MnO(6) octahedra and sheets of MnO(4) tetrahedra. X-ray absorption data confirm the presence of Mn(I) centers in La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO(2+δ) phases with x < 1. Low-temperature neutron diffraction data reveal La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO(2+δ) (x = 0.6, 0.67, 0.7) phases become antiferromagnetically ordered at low temperature.     

Room temperature antiferromagnetic order in the Mn(II) Oxide 4H-Ba(0.5)Sr(0.5)MnO(2+delta)

The synthesis of the Mn(II) phase 4H-Ba(0.5)Sr(0.5)MnO(2+delta) via the topotactic reduction of 4H-Ba(0.5)Sr(0.5)MnO(3-x) with the novel reducing agent LiH, is described. Neutron powder diffraction data show that oxide ions are deintercalated from the host structure in a disordered manner to yield "tetrahedral" MnO(4) coordination sites. Magnetic susceptibility and neutron powder diffraction data show that the title phase adopts a canted antiferromagnetically ordered state below T(N) = 355K, consistent with the strong magnetic coupling expected between d(5) centers.     

Synthesis and X-ray and neutron structures of Zr{(mu-H)2BC8H14}4

The complex Zr(9-BBN)4 [9-BBN = (mu-H)2BC8H14] has been synthesized via the reaction of K(9-BBN) with ZrCl4 in diethyl ether. The structure of the title compound has been determined by X-ray and neutron single-crystal diffraction techniques. Each 9-BBN ligand is coordinated to the Zr atom via two B-H-Zr bridges, and these metal-ligand bonding interactions are further augmented by three prominent C-H...Zr agostic interactions. Average molecular parameters derived from the neutron analysis: Zr-H = 2.051(8) A, B-H = 1.286(7) A, Zr...B = 2.409(6) A, Zr-H-B = 87.7(4) degrees , H-Zr-H = 58.9(3) degrees . The Zr...H distances corresponding to the three C-H...Zr agostic interactions are 2.424(7), 2.663(8), and 2.551(7) A. The fourth potential C-H...Zr interaction has a Zr...H distance [3.146(7) A] that is too long to be considered in the agostic range. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction data were collected on an Enraf-Nonius Kappa CCD diffraction system, and neutron diffraction data were collected on the quasi-Laue diffractometer VIVALDI at the Institut Laue-Langevin; the final agreement factor for the neutron analysis is 6.52% for 2557 reflections with I > 2sigma(I).     

Synthesis, structure, and properties of BaAl2Si2

Single crystals of BaAl2Si2 were grown from an Al molten flux and characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction at 10 and 90 K and neutron diffraction at room temperature. BaAl2Si2 crystallizes with the alpha-BaCu2S2 structure type (Pnma), is isostructural with alpha-BaAl2Ge2, and is an open 3D framework compound, where Al and Si form a covalent cagelike network with Ba2+ cations residing in the cages. BaAl2Si2 has a unit cell of a=10.070(3) A, b=4.234(1) A, and c=10.866(3) A, as determined by room-temperature single-crystal neutron diffraction (R1=0.0533, wR2=0.1034). The structure as determined by single-crystal neutron and X-ray diffraction (10 and 90 K) indicates that BaAl2Si2 (Pnma) is strictly isostructural to other (alpha)-BaCu2S2-type structures, requiring site specificity for Al and Si. Unlike BaAl2Ge2, no evidence for an alpha to beta (BaZn2P2-type, I4/mmm) phase transition was observed. This compound shows metallic electronic resistivity and Pauli paramagnetic behavior.     

Synthesis and Structural Determination of the Disordered Bixbyite Cu3‐xSb1+xO5.5+3x/2 with Spin‐Glass Behaviour

The ternary copper antimony oxide Cu_3‐xSb_1+xO_5.5+3x/2 (x=0.23) has been synthesized under 0.8–1.3 MPa pO₂ at 1022–1082 °C. Rietveld refinements of X‐ray and neutron powder diffraction patterns concluded that the oxide adopts a bixbyite type structure, crystallising in the cubic space group Ia‐3 with the unit cell parameter a=9.61164(4) Å at room temperature from powder neutron diffraction data. The cationic 8b and 24d sites were found to be occupationally disordered where both Cu and Sb could be found on both sites. This is supported by X‐ray absorption spectroscopy experiments showing more than one possible Cu environment. There was a significant net deficiency of oxygen in the compound which was first inferred from observations of a thermochromic‐like phenomena and also seen from in situ high temperature neutron diffraction experiments. Magnetic susceptibility and magnetization measurements show paramagnetic behaviour with spin‐glass like transition below 6 K.     

Crystal structure and dynamics of Mg(ND3)6Cl2

The crystal structure and dynamics of Mg(ND(3))(6)Cl(2) have been investigated by powder neutron diffraction and molecular dynamics. The powder diffraction data can be well described by 4 partly occupied deuterium sites in a square arrangement around the N atoms, which is seemingly inconsistent with the 3-fold symmetry of the ND(3) molecule. Molecular dynamics show highly correlated rotational and translational motion of the ND(3) molecules which explains the apparent 4-fold symmetry of the deuterium arrangement. A more disordered structure model based on the molecular dynamics results gives a better fit to the experimental data and is in agreement with the 3-fold symmetry of ND(3).     

NeuDATool:an Open Source Neutron Data Analysis Tools,Supporting GPU Hardware Acceleration,and across-Computer Cluster Nodes Parallel

Empirical potential structure refinement is a neutron scattering data analysis algorithm and a software package. It was developed by the disordered materials group in the British spallation neutron source (ISIS) in 1980s, and aims to construct the most-probable atomic structures of disordered materials in the field of chemical physics. It has been extensively used during the past decades, and has generated reliable results. However, it implements a shared-memory architecture with open multi-processing (OpenMP). With the extensive construction of supercomputer clusters and the widespread use of graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration technology, it is now possible to rebuild the EPSR with these techniques in the effort to improve its calculation speed. In this study, an open source framework NeuDATool is proposed. It is programmed in the object-oriented language C++, can be paralleled across nodes within a computer cluster, and supports GPU acceleration. The performance of NeuDATool has been tested with water and amorphous silica neutron scattering data. The test shows that the software can reconstruct the correct microstructure of the samples, and the calculation speed with GPU acceleration can increase by more than 400 times, compared with CPU serial algorithm at a simulation box that has about 100 thousand atoms. NeuDATool provides another choice to implement simulation in the (neutron) diffraction community, especially for experts who are familiar with C++ programming and want to define specific algorithms for their analysis.     

Structure and thermoelectric characterization of Ba8Al14Si31

A molten Al flux method was used to grow single crystals of the type I clathrate compound Ba8Al14Si31. Single-crystal neutron diffraction data for Ba8Al14Si31 were collected at room temperature using the SCD instrument at the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source, Argonne National Laboratory. Single-crystal neutron diffraction of Ba8Al14Si31 confirms that the Al partially occupies all of the framework sites (R1 = 0.0435, wR2 = 0.0687). Stoichiometry was determined by electron microprobe analysis, density measurements, and neutron diffraction analysis. Solid-state (27)Al NMR provides additional evidence for site preferences within the framework. This phase is best described as a framework-deficient solid solution Ba8Al14Si31, with the general formula, Ba(8)Al(x)Si(42-3/4x)[](4-1/4x) ([] indicates lattice defects). DSC measurements and powder X-ray diffraction data indicate that this is a congruently melting phase at 1416 K. Temperature-dependent resistivity reveals metallic behavior. The negative Seebeck coefficient indicates transport processes dominated by electrons as carriers.     

High density amorphous ices: disordered water towards close packing

The structure of amorphous ice under pressure has been studied by molecular dynamics at 160 K. The starting low-density phase undergoes significant changes as the density increases, and at rho=1.51 g/cm(3) our calculated g(OO)(r) is in excellent agreement with in situ neutron diffraction data obtained at 1.8 GPa and 100 K on very high density amorphous ice made at 150 K. As the system is further compressed, in the theoretical simulations, up to rho=1.90 g/cm(3), the structural modifications are continuous up to the highest density. The analysis of orientational distributions reveals that dense amorphous ice is characterized by major distortions of the tetrahedral geometry, and that the pressure structural changes, already observed experimentally at lower densities, can be interpreted as a trend towards a disordered closed-packed structure.     

Preparation, crystal structure, and properties of barium pernitride, BaN(2)

Stoichiometric barium pernitride, BaN(2), was prepared from the elements under N(2) pressure of 5600 bar in an autoclave at 920 K. The compound is isotypic to ThC(2) (space group C2/c, Z = 4) according to powder X-ray (neutron) diffraction data with a = 7.1712(1), b = 4.3946(1), c = 7.2362(1) A, and beta = 104.864(1) degrees (a = 7.1745(1), b = 4.3963(1), c = 7.2393(1) A, beta = 104.876(1) degrees ). The N-N distance of 1.221(4) A (based on the neutron diffraction data) is indicative of a double bond in the N(2)(2-) dumbbells. BaN(2) is metallic according to magnetic susceptibility measurements and TB-LMTO band structure calculations.     

Beyond crystallography: the study of disorder, nanocrystallinity and crystallographically challenged materials with pair distribution functions

Studying the structure of disordered and partially ordered materials is notoriously difficult. Recently, significant advances have been made using the atomic pair distribution function (PDF) analysis of powder diffraction data coupled with the use of advanced X-ray and neutron sources and fast computers. Here we summarize some of the more spectacular successes of this technique in studying the structure of complex materials and compounds. Our purpose is to make the PDF analysis technique familiar to the chemical community by describing its methodologies and highlighting its potential in solving structural characterization problems that are intractable by any other technique available to this community e.g. single crystal diffraction, Rietveld refinement of powder diffraction data and extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis (EXAFS).     

X-ray and neutron diffraction studies of the crystal and molecular structure of the predominant monocarboxylic acid obtained by mild acid hydrolysis of cyanocobalamin. Part III. Neutron diffraction studies of wet crystals

The molecular structure of the predominant monocarboxylic acid, E2, obtained by mild acid hydrolysis of cyanocobalamin has been determined by neutron diffraction with some support from x-ray diffraction. The undried crystals, formula probably C₆₃H₈₇O₁₅N₁₃PCo l6H₂O, have unit cell parametersa = 14.91(1) A, b = 17.49(l)A, c = 16.41(1)A, β = 104.11(5)°; space group P2₁, Z = 2. The analysis was carried out in two stages with data extending to 1.3 A (1531 terms) and to 1.0 A (2993 terms) respectively. It was initiated by the use of coordinates of 84 atoms from the parallel x-ray analysis to phase the first Fourier series. The atomic positions derived from the 1.3 A data set appeared in good agreement with the chemical evidence both on the corrin structure and on the position of the acid group ate. However the analysis by Fourier and least squares methods on the extended data defined the atomic positions much more clearly and showed that diffraction ripples had distorted some of the hydrogen atom positions in the low resolution map. The acid group appeared clearly placed in the higher resolution map at theb position. The positions of disordered atoms in thee chain and some water molecules were checked with the parallel x-ray analysis. It seems most likely to us therefore that this acid is α-(5,6-dimethylbenzimidazolyl)cobamic acida,c,d,g,e pentamide cyanide.