K2[FeII3(P2O7)2(H2O)2]

Abstract

The title compound, dipotassium diaquabis(diphosphato)triferrate(II), K2[FeII3(P2O7)2(H2O)2], was synthesized under solvothermal conditions. The crystal structure is isotypic with its Co analogue. In the structure, there are two crystallographically distinct Fe positions; one lies on an inversion center, the other on a general position. The first Fe2+ cation adopts a regular octahedral coordination with six O atoms, whereas the other is coordinated by five O atoms and a water molecule. The [FeO6] octahedron shares its trans-edges with an adjacent [FeO5(H2O)] octahedron; in turn, the [FeO5(H2O)] octahedron shares skew-edges with a neighbouring [FeO6] octahedron and an [FeO5(H2O)] octahedron, resulting in a zigzag octahedral chain running along [001]. The zigzag chains are linked to each other by the P2O7 diphosphate groups, leading to a corrugated iron diphosphate layer, [Fe3(P2O7)2(H2O)2]2−, parallel to (100). The interlayer space is occupied by K+ cations, which adopt an eight-coordination to seven O atoms and one water molecule from a neighbouring iron diphosphate layer. Thus, the K+ ions not only compensate the negative charge of the layer but also link the layers into a network structure.