SYNTHESIS AND CRYSTAL-STRUCTURE OF ZR3TE

Zr3Te was prepared by are-melting a compressed mixture of ZrTe2 and zi rconium and annealing of the sample at 1650 K in a sealed tantalum amp oule. The structure was determined by means of X-ray powder diffractom etry and confirmed by a single-crystal structure analysis: a = 1132.7( 1) pm, c = 563.64(7) pm, I-4, Z = 4, tI32, 1638 reflections, 38 variab les, R(F) = 0.022. Zr3Te adopts a Ni3P-type structure. The structure c omprises tetrakaidecahedral Zr9Te clusters sharing two faces, five edg es and four vertices with other units of the same type. The specific o rientation of the clusters affords a structure in which nearly all ato ms are tetrahedrally close-packed.