Beiträge zur Kristallchemie der Urantelluride. I. Die Kristallstruktur des α-Urantritellurids

Contributions to the Crystal Chemistry of Uranium Tellurides. I. The Crystal Structure of α-Uranium Tritelluride Single crystals of the title compound up to a size of 8 mm were available via chemical transport reactions with TeBr₄ as transporting agent starting from the elements. The analysis by atomic emission spectrometry gave UTe_3.0(1). By X-ray single crystal structure analysis we found that UTe₃ crystallizes monoclinic (space group P 2₁/m, Z = 2) with a = 609.7(1) pm, b = 422.06(4) pm, c = 1031.2(1) pm and β = 97.87(1)º in the ZrSe₃-structure type. The layer structure is built up by bicapped trigonal prisms.