Dilithium manganese(II) catena-tetrakis(polyphosphate), Li 2Mn(PO3)4

Abstract

The poly-phosphate Li2Mn(PO3)4 was synthesized and its structure characterized from powder diffraction data by Averbuch-Pouchot and Durif [J. Appl. Cryst. (1972), 5, 307-308]. These authors showed that the structure of this phosphate is isotypic to that of Li 2Cd(PO3)4, as confirmed by the present work. The structure is built from infinite zigzag polyphosphate chains, [(PO 3)-] n , extending along [010]. These polyphosphate chains are connected by sharing vertices with MnO6 octahedra (site symmetry.m.) and Li2O7 polyhedra, which form also chains parallel to [010]. Adjacent chains are linked by common vertices of polyhedra in such a way as to form porous layers parallel to (100). The three-dimensional framework delimits empty channels extending along [010].