Syntheses and Crystal Structures of Two Sodium Ruthenates: Na2RuO4 and Na2RuO3

Na₂RuO₄, prepared from Na₂O₂ and RuO₂ via high oxygen pressure synthesis, crystallises monoclinic in space group P2₁/c (a = 10.721(6), b = 7.033(4), c = 10.871(6) Å, β = 119.10(4)°, Z = 8, 2503 unique reflections, R₁ = 0.049). Structure determination from single crystal data shows that the compound consists of infinite chains of RuO₅ trigonal bipyramids connected through their axial vertices. The Na cations connect the pseudohexagonally packed equation/tex2gif-stack-1.gif[RuO₃O_2/2] chains and are coordinated by six or seven oxygen atoms, respectively. The compound exhibits an one‐dimensional spin system with μ = 2.80 μ_B and Θ = —222 K and a three‐dimensional antiferromagnetic ordering below 50 K. Na₂RuO₃ was obtained from Na₂RuO₄ at 850 °C under a flow of argon. The structure was determined from X‐ray powder diffraction. It is closely related to the α‐NaFeO₂ and the Li₂SnO₃ structure types, layered variants of the NaCl type. In Na₂RuO₃ the Na and Ru atoms are partially disordered. This partially disordered state was approximated by a Rietveld refinement of two superimposed structural models (model I: R 3¯ m, a = 3.12360(5), c = 16.0370(4) Å, Z = 2; model II: C2/c, a = 5.4141(4), b = 9.3663(6), c = 10.8481(4) Å, β = 99.636(9)°, Z = 8).