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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Crystal structure of a new compound, CuZnCl(OH)(3), isostructural with botallackite

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Author(s):
Yang, Hexing [1] ; Barton, Isabel F. [2] ; Andrade, Marcelo B. [1] ; Downs, Robert T. [1]
Total Authors: 4
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Arizona, Dept Geosci, 1040 E 4th St, Tucson, AZ 85721 - USA
[2] Univ Arizona, Lowell Inst Mineral Resources, Tucson, AZ 85721 - USA
Total Affiliations: 2
Document type: Journal article
Source: AMERICAN MINERALOGIST; v. 101, n. 3-4, p. 986-990, MAR 2016.
Web of Science Citations: 3
Abstract

A new compound, ideally CuZnCl(OH)(3), was found on a metallic mining artifact of copper composition at the Rowley mine, Maricopa County, Arizona, U.S.A., and studied with electron microprobe analysis, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. It is isostructural with botallackite {[}Cu2Cl(OH)3] with space group P2(1)/m and unit-cell parameters a= 5.6883(5), b = 6.3908(6), c= 5.5248(5) angstrom, beta = 90.832(2)degrees, V= 200.82(3) . The crystal structure of CuZnCl(OH)(3), refined to R1 = 0.018, is characterized by brucite-type octahedral sheets made of two distinct and considerably distorted octahedra, M1 and M2, which are coordinated by (50H + 1Cl) and (40H + 2Cl), respectively. The octahedral sheets are parallel to (100) and connected by O-H center dot center dot center dot Cl hydrogen bonding. The major structural difference between CuZnCl(OH)(3) and botallackite is the complete replacement of Cu2+ in the highly angle-distorted Ml site by non-Jahn-Teller distorting Zn2+. The CuZnCl(OH)(3) compound represents the highest Zn content ever documented for the atacamite group of minerals, in conflict with all previous reports that botallackite (like atacamite) is the most resistant, of all copper hydroxylchloride Cu2Cl(OH)(3) polymorphs, to the substitution of Zn2+ for Cu2+, even in the presence of large excess of Zn2+. Its discovery, along with the recently described new mineral iyoite, CuMnCl(OH)(3), implies that more botallackite-type compounds or minerals with the chemical formula CuMCl(OH)(3) (M=Ni2+, Co2+, Fe2+, Mn2+, Cd2+, and Mg2+) may be synthesized or found in nature. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 13/03487-8 - Center of characterization of new mineral species: Raman spectroscopy, electron microprobe and X-ray and neutron diffraction
Grantee:Marcelo Barbosa de Andrade
Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants