Anhydrous tin and lead hexacyanoferrates (II). Part I. Synthesis and crystal structure.

The crystal structure of Pb2Fe(CN)(6) and Sn2Fe(CN)(6) has been first deter mined and refined using the Rietveld method with combined Cu-K alpha (1) X- ray and constant-wavelength neutron powder diffraction data in space group P-3 (147, Z = 1). The unit cell constants are a = 7.1346(1) and 7.1805(1) A ngstrom, c = 5.4531(2) and 5.3639(1) Angstrom, respectively. The compounds are layered, groups of three nearest [Fe(CN)(6)](4-)-complexes are joined t o layers by means of Pb or Sn atoms. The same Pb or Sn atoms (c.n. = 3+3) j oint three nearest complexes from the next layer. The jointing goes through 'nitrogen-lead(tin)-nitrogen' bonds. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et me dicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.