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

Abstract

The poly-phosphate Li2Mn(PO3)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 Li2Cd(PO3)4, as confirmed by the present work. The structure is built from infinite zigzag polyphosphate chains, [(PO3)−]n, extending along [010]. These polyphosphate chains are connected by sharing vertices with MnO6 octahedra (site symmetry .m.) and Li2O7 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].