Dicaesium hexamercury heptasulfide

Abstract

The title compound, Cs2Hg6S7, crystallizes in a new structure type that is closely related to that of K2Zn6O7. The structure comprises a three-dimensional mercury sulfide network that is composed of channels. These channels, which are along [001], are of two different diameters. The crystal structure contains one Cs, two Hg, and three S atoms in the asymmetric unit. The Cs, one Hg, and one S atom are at sites of symmetry m, whereas a second S atom is at a site of symmetry 2mm. The Hg atoms are bound to the S atoms in both three- and four-coordinate geometries. The caesium cations occupy the central spaces of the larger diameter channels and exhibit a coordination number of 7.