Crystal Research Center, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, CAS^* Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Science, China^**
○Jing-Tai Zhao^* Ding-Bang Xiong^** Hao-Hong Chen^** Man-Rong Li^** Xin-Xin Yang^**

A new microporous borogermanate NH₄[BGe₃O₈] has been synthesized by a molten boric acid flux method with “reagent” quantities of water in which GeO₂, en, H₂O and H₃BO₃ (5 : 8 : 14 : 25) were heated together at 513 K for 4 days. It is noteworthy that the high viscosity of reactive medium and the quantity of water play important role in the formation of the compound. The structure consists of {Ge₆O₁₈}_n chains, further linked together via BO₄ tetrahedra, forming a three-dimensional open framework with intersecting channel systems including 1-D ten-membered rings (MRs) channels. Interestingly, the infinite chains {Ge₆O₁₈}_n as building block, built of alternate four- and six-MRs made of vertex-sharing GeO₄ tetrahedra.
Keywords: Crystal structure; Borogermanate; Flux method.
Reference
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