Earth Alkaline Tetrathiosquarates. II. – Syntheses and Crystal Structures of SrC4S4·4 H2O and Ba4K2(C4S4)5·16 H2O

Concentrated aqueous solutions of strontium chloride and barium chloride, respectively, allow on addition of the potassium salt of tetrathiosquarate, K₂C₄S₄·H₂O, the isolation of the earth alkaline salts SrC₄S₄·4 H₂O ( 1 ) and Ba₄K₂(C₄S₄)₅·16 H₂O ( 2 ), both as dark red crystals. The crystal structure determinations ( 1 : orthorhombic, Pnma, a = 8.149(1), b = 12.907(2), c = 10.790(2) Å, Z = 4; 2 : orthorhombic, Pbca, a = 15.875(3), b = 21.325(5), c = 16.119(1) Å, Z = 4) show the presence of C₄S₄^2? ions with only slightly distorted D_4h symmetry having average C–C and C–S bond lengths of 1.41Å and 1.681Å for 1 and 1.450Å and 1.657Å for 2 . The structure of 1 contains concatenated edge‐sharing Sr(H₂O)₆S₂ polyhedra. The Sr²⁺ ions are in eight‐fold coordination with Sr–O distances of 2.50–2.72Å and Sr–S distances of 3.21Å, (C₄S₄)^2? acts as a chelating ligand towards Sr²⁺. The structure is closely related to the previously reported Ca²⁺ containing analogue, which is of lower symmetry belonging to the monoclinic crystal system. A supergroup‐subgroup relation between the space groups of both structures is present. The structure of 2 is made up of Ba²⁺ and K⁺ ions in eight and nine‐fold coordination by H₂O molecules and (C₄S₄)^2? ions which act as chelating ligands towards one cation and bridging between two cations. The coordination polyhedra of the cations are connected by common edges and corners in two dimensions to layers which are connected by tetrathiosquarate ions to a three‐dimensional network. The infrared and Raman spectra show bands typical for the molecular building units of the two compounds.