Raman spectroscopic study of the metatellurate mineral: xocomecatlite Cu3TeO4(OH)4

The mineral xocomecatlite is a hydroxy metatellurate mineral with Te⁶⁺ O₄ units. Tellurates may be subdivided according to their formula into three types of tellurate minerals: type (a) (AB)_m (TeO₄)_pZ_q, type (b) (AB)_m(TeO₆)^·xH₂O and (c) compound tellurates in which a second anion including the tellurite anion, is involved. The mineral xocomecatlite is an example of the first type. Raman bands for xocomecatlite at 710, 763 and 796 cm⁻¹, and 600 and 680 cm⁻¹ are attributed to the ν₁(TeO₄)²⁻ symmetric and ν₃ antisymmetric stretching mode. Raman bands observed at 2867 and 2926 cm⁻¹ are assigned to TeOH stretching vibrations and enable estimation of the hydrogen bond distances of 2.622 Å (2867 cm⁻¹), 2.634 Å (2926 cm⁻¹) involving these OH units. The hydrogen bond distances are very short implying that they are necessary for the stability of the mineral. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.