STRUCTURE REFINEMENT AND MAGNETIC-PROPERTIES OF DYCUSN

The title compound was prepared by are-melting of the elements and sub sequent annealing at 1070 K. The crystal structure of DyCuSn was refin ed from single crystal X-ray data of an inversion twin: P6(3)mc, a = 4 50.75(4), c = 724.78(7)pm, V = 0.12753(5) nm(3), wR2 = 0.0520, 321 F-2 values, 11 variables and BASF = 0.30(3). DyCuSn adopts the NdPtSb str ucture, a ternary ordered variant of CaIn2. The copper and tin atoms f orm slightly puckered Cu3Sn3 hexagons with intralayer Cu-Sn distances of 267.4 pm, while the interlayer distances of 300.9 pm are much large r. The [CuSn] polyanion has a pronounced two-dimensional character and is separated by the dysprosium atoms. Magnetic susceptibility measure ments show Curie-Weiss behaviour with an experimental magnetic moment of mu(exp) = 10.9(1) mu(B). DyCuSn orders antiferromagnetically at T-N = 5.0(2) K. A metamagnetic transition is observed at a critical field strength of 0.60(5) T.