Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 9, 2025

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Crystal structure of chain silicate Cs3LuSi3O9
Hiromitsu Kimura1, Hisanori Yamane2
1Inorganic Materials Laboratory, Science & Innovation Center, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, 1000 Kamoshida-cho, Aoba-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, 227-8502, Japan.
Abstract:
A caesium lutetium(III) silicate, Cs3LuSi3O9, was synthesized by heating a pelletized mixture of Cs2CO3, Lu2O3 and SiO2 at 1273 K. Single crystals of the title compound were grown in a melted area of the pellet. Cs3LuSi3O9 is a single-chain silicate (ortho-rhom-bic space group Pna21) with a chain periodicity of six and is isostructural with Cs3 RE IIIGe3O9 (RE = Pr, Nd and Sm-Yb). The two symmetry-dependent [Si6O18]12- chains in the unit cell lie parallel to the [011] direction. The Lu3+ ions are octa-hedrally coordinated by O atoms of the silicate chains, generating a three-dimensional framework. Cs+ ions are located in the voids in the framework.
Related Concept Videos
Ionic Crystal Structures
Most monatomic ions behave as charged spheres, and their attraction for ions of opposite charge is the same in every direction. Consequently, stable structures for ionic compounds result (1) when ions of one charge are surrounded by as many ions as possible of the opposite...
Lattice Centering and Coordination Number
Types of Unit Cells
Imagine taking a large number of identical...
Metallic Solids
All metallic solids exhibit high thermal and electrical conductivity, metallic luster, and malleability....
Structures of Solids
Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than the dxy,...

