A new β-CdTeO polymorph with a structure related to α-CdTeO.

A new β-CdTeO polymorph was obtained by hydrothermal synthesis and its structure was solved ab initio from powder X-ray diffraction data. It appears that the structure of β-CdTeO (Pnma, Z = 16, a = 7.45850(3) Å, b = 14.

High-temperature, high-pressure hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of a salt-inclusion mixed-valence uranium(V,VI) silicate: [Na9F2][(U(V)O2)(U(VI)O2)2(Si2O7)2].

A salt-inclusion mixed-valence uranium(V,VI) silicate, [Na9F2][(U(V)O2)(U(VI)O2)2(Si2O7)2], was synthesized under hydrothermal conditions at 585 °C and 160 MPa and structurally characterized by powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD). The valence states of uranium were established by U 4f X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The structure contains two-dimensional (2D) sheets of uranyl disilicate with the composition [UO2Si2O7], which are connected by U(1)(V)O6 tetragonal bipyramids to form thick layers.

Remarkable thermal stability of Eu(4-phosphonobenzoate): structure investigations and luminescence properties.

A new 3D rare-earth hybrid material Eu(p-O(3)PC(6)H(4)COO) has been synthesised by a hydrothermal route from Eu(NO(3))(3) x 5 H(2)O and the rigid precursor, 4-phosphonobenzoic acid. The structure of Eu(p-O(3)PC(6)H(4)COO) has been solved by X-ray diffraction on a powder sample and is described as an inorganic network in which both carboxylic and phosphonic acid groups are linked to Eu ions forming a three-dimensional architecture. Thermal analysis performed on this compound has underlined its remarkable stability up to 510 degrees C and an optical study has been conducted to examine its luminescence properties that have been related to the structure of the material.

The route to fullernoid oxides.

Tetrahedral oxides, like silicates and aluminates, have attracted great interest due to their potential for numerous applications in various fields ranging from catalysis, ion exchange and molecular sieves, to thermo- and photoluminescence. In spite of their tetrahedral character, no effort has been made to date for establishing structural relationships between these tetrahedral oxides with different forms of carbon, for example, fullerenes. Here, we report for the first time an oxide that exhibits a three-dimensional framework of AlO4 tetrahedra forming huge 'Al84' spheres, similar to those of the D2d isomer of the C84 fullerenes.

Ammonium Iron(II,III) Phosphate: Hydrothermal Synthesis and Characterization of NHFe(PO).

The mixed-valence iron phosphate NHFe(PO), which was synthesized by the high-temperature, high-pressure hydrothermal method, crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/c with a = 20.0066(1) Å, b = 14.8319(2) Å, c = 9.