The lanthanoid(III) chloride cyclo-tetrasilicates M6Cl10[Si4O12] (M=Sm, Gd-Dy): Synthesis, structure and IR investigations

The chloride derivatized lanthanoid(III) cyclo-tetrasilicates of the composition M₆Cl₁₀[Si₄O₁₂] (M=Sm, Gd-Dy) crystallize monoclinically in space group C2/m (a=1062-1065, b=1036-1052, c=1163-1187 pm, β≈103°, Z=2). They are obtained by the reaction of the sesquioxides M₂O₃ (or the combination of Tb₄O₇ and Tb in 3:2-molar ratio for the terbium case), the corresponding trichlorides MCl₃, and SiO₂ (silica gel) in stoichiometric ratios with double the amount of MCl₃ as flux in evacuated silica tubes (7d at 850 °C) as transparent, pseudo-octagonal, pillar-shaped single crystals with the colour of the respective lanthanoid trication M³⁺. Their crystal structure can be considered as a layered arrangement in which cationic {[(M2)₅Cl₉]⁶⁺} layers are alternatingly piled with anionic ones of the kind {[(M1)Cl[Si₄O₁₂]]⁶⁻}. In the latter, the (M1)³⁺ cations show a slightly distorted hexagonal bipyramidal environment built up by two Cl⁻ and six O²⁻ anions (CN=8), whereas the (M2)³⁺ cations exhibit a coordination number of only seven (five Cl⁻ and two O²⁻ anions in the shape of a distorted pentagonal bipyramid). The cyclo-tetrasilicate units consist of four corner-linked [SiO₄]⁴⁻ tetrahedra in all-ecliptical conformation each, fused to eight-membered rings, which contain two almost linear (178°) and two bent (142°) Si-O-Si bridges. This particular cyclo-[Si₄O₁₂]⁸⁻ situation could be confirmed by theoretical and experimental infrared-spectroscopic investigations.