Single Crystal Growth and Crystal Structure of Mercurous Diarsenate(V), (Hg2)2(As2O7)

Polycrystalline mercurous diarsenate(V), (Hg₂)₂(As₂O₇), was prepared by a redox‐reaction between stoichiometric amounts of HgO and As₂O₃. Canary yellow single crystals were obtained by subsequent chemical transport reactions using HgCl₂ as transport agent 550 → 500 °C, 5 d, sealed and evacuated silica ampoules]. The crystal structure (orthorhombic, Pnma, Z = 4, a = 9.9803(8), b = 12.2039(10), c = 7.2374(6)Å) is composed of two crystallographically independent Hgequation/tex2gif-stack-1.gif dumbbells (d¯(Hg—Hg) = 2.5133Å) with a symmetric oxygen coordination sphere, and a diarsenate group with a staggered conformation and a bent bridging angle As—O—As = 121.0(7)°. The building units are arranged in a layer‐like assembly parallel to (010) and are connected via common oxygen atoms to form a three‐dimensional network.