A novel cesium hydroxygallophosphate with a layered structure built up of rutile ribbons: CsGa2(OH)2[(PO4)H(PO4)]

A new cesium gallophosphate, CsGa₂(OH)₂[(PO₄)H(PO₄)], with an original layer structure has been synthesized by hydrothermal route and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (R=0.0344, R_w=0.0319). Its structure crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2₁/a with cell parameters , , , β=93.36(4)° and Z=2. It consists of [Ga(OH)PO₄]_∞ layers built up of rutile ribbons interconnected through PO₄ tetrahedra. The structure of CsGa₂(OH)₂[(PO₄)H(PO₄)] is closely related to those of (NH₄)Ga(OH)PO₄ and (en)Ga₂(OH)₂(PO₄)₂ (en=ethylenediamine [H₃N(CH₂)₂NH₃]²⁺). The three structures differ mainly from each other by the relative positions and the spacing of the successive layers, which are governed by different hydrogen bonding modes between [Ga(OH)PO₄]_∞ layers and the interleaved species. The title compound presents strong symmetric hydrogen bonds O---H---O which bridge two PO₄ tetrahedra of two successive layers. As a consequence, the distance between the layers is significantly shorter than in the two other amine compounds.