A calcium analog of strontioborite, namely, Ca[B
8O
11(OH)
4], is synthesized under hydrothermal conditions (
T = 270°C,
P = 20 atm) within the framework of the study of the phase formation in the CaCl
2 · Rb
2CO
3 · B
2O
3 system. The crystal structure of the synthetic calcium borate [
a = 7.4480(5) Å,
b = 8.2627(5) Å,
c = 9.8102(6) Å, β = 108.331(1)°,
V = 573.09(6) Å
3, space group
P2
1,
Z = 2, ρ
calcd = 2.15 g/cm
3; Brucker SMART CCD automated diffractometer, 5506 reflections, λMo
K
α] is refined by the least-squares procedure in the anisotropic approximation of thermal atomic vibrations to
R
1 = 0.050. The calcium borate studied has a crystal structure identical to the structure of the natural strontium borate (strontioborite)
Sr[B
8O
11(OH)
4] and its calcium analog synthesized earlier. The crystal structure is built up of stacks consisting of skeleton layers (formed
by boron-oxygen polyanions) and isolated strontium (calcium) polyhedra located in trigonal holes of the skeleton layers. Through
channels that can contain H
2O molecules are formed between the stacks. The structure refinement and analysis of the IR spectrum of the synthetic calcium
analog of strontioborite do not confirm the previously proposed hypothesis that water molecules are involved in the channels
of the structure. A comparative crystal chemical analysis of the calcium borate under investigation and its formula analog,
namely, the lead borate Pb[B
8O
11(OH)
4], is performed.
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Translated from Kristallografiya, Vol. 50, No. 5, 2005, pp. 827–833.
Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Yamnova, Egorov-Tismenko, Zubkova, Dimitrova, Kantor.