An unprecedented uranyl phosphate framework in the structure of [(UO2)3(PO4)O(OH)(H2O)2](H2O)

Peter C Burns; Cara M Alexopoulos; Peter J Hotchkiss; Andrew J Locock

doi:10.1021/ic0348547

An unprecedented uranyl phosphate framework in the structure of [(UO2)3(PO4)O(OH)(H2O)2](H2O)

Inorg Chem. 2004 Mar 22;43(6):1816-8. doi: 10.1021/ic0348547.

Authors

Peter C Burns¹, Cara M Alexopoulos, Peter J Hotchkiss, Andrew J Locock

Affiliation

¹ Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 156 Fitzpatick Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. pburns@nd.edu

PMID: 15018494
DOI: 10.1021/ic0348547

Abstract

The new uranyl phosphate [(UO2)3(PO4)O(OH)(H2O)2](H2O) (1) with an unprecedented framework structure has been synthesized at 150 and 185 degrees C. The structure (tetragonal, P4(2)/mbc, a = 14.015(1) A, c = 13.083(2) A, V = 2575.6(4) A(3), Z = 8) contains uranyl phosphate chains composed of uranyl pentagonal and hexagonal bipyramids and phosphate tetrahedra linked by sharing of polyhedral edges. The uranyl phosphate chains are aligned both along [100] and [010] and are linked into a novel framework structure involving channels along [001]. Topologically identical chains occur linked into sheets in more than a dozen uranyl phosphate minerals, but these chains have never been observed in opposing orientations and linked into a framework as in 1.