Copper(II) manganese(II) orthophosphate, Cu_0.5Mn_2.5(PO₄)₂

Abstract

The title compound, Cu(0.5)Mn(2.5)(PO(4))(2), is a copper-manganese phosphate solid solution with the graftonite-type structure, viz. (Mn,Fe,Ca,Mg)(3)(PO(4))(2). The structure has three distinct metal cation sites, two of which are occupied by Mn(II) and one of which accommodates Cu(II). Incorporation of Cu(II) into the structure distorts the coordination geometry of the metal cation site from five-coordinate square-pyramidal towards four-coordinate flattened tetrahedral, and serves to contract the structure principally along the c axis.