Aluminium cyclo-hexa-phosphate.

Single crystals of the title compound, Al(2)P(6)O(18), were obtained by solid-state reaction. The monoclinic structure is isotypic with its Cr(III), Ga(III) and Ru(III) analogues and is built up of six-membered phosphate ring anions, P(6)O(18) (6-), isolated from each other and further linked by isolated AlO(6) octa-hedra by sharing corners. Each AlO(6) octa-hedron is linked to four P(6)O(18) (6-) rings. More accurately, two rings are linked through bidentate diphosphate groups attached in the cis-positions to the AlO(6) octa-hedron. The other two rings are linked to the two remaining corners, also in cis-positions of the AlO(6) octa-hedron.