Dilithium manganese(II) catena-tetrakis(polyphosphate), Li₂Mn(PO₃)₄

Abstract

The poly-phosphate Li 2 Mn(PO 3 ) 4 was synthesized and its structure characterized from powder diffraction data by Averbuch-Pouchot & Durif [ J. Appl. Cryst. (1972), 5 , 307–308]. These authors showed that the structure of this phosphate is isotypic to that of Li 2 Cd(PO 3 ) 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 MnO 6 octahedra (site symmetry . m .) and Li 2 O 7 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].