Compressibility of BiCu2PO6: Polymorphism against S = 1/2 Magnetic Spin Ladders

Inorg Chem. 2018 May 21;57(10):6038-6044. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b00445. Epub 2018 May 7.

Abstract

BiCu2PO6 is a unique example of a S = 1/2 ladder where the magnetic exchanges are mainly confined in 1D [BiCu2O2]3+ cationic ribbons, although the shortest Cu-Cu separation between them exists. Its original magnetic topology gives the most representative example of a frustrated quantum ladder to investigate the complex physics behind it. Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of one high-pressure polymorph. In this new phase, the preservation of 1D [BiCu2O2]3+ units somewhat restacked leads to the preservation of its gapped magnetic ground state and ladder topology. The comparison of both compounds highlights the start of a thermodynamic conjuncture, where both the stable ambient-pressure (AP) and metastable high-pressure (HP) forms display the same equilibrium volume and superposed volume dependence of the energy, leading to a first-order AP → HP transition undetected by differential thermal analysis.