Natural and synthetic compounds with kröhnkite-type chains: review and classification

Abstract

The crystal structure of kröhnkite [Na₂Cu(SO₄)₂·2H₂O], which contains infinite chains composed of CuO₆ octahedra corner-linked with SO₄ tetrahedra, was originally determined 1952 by Dahlman. Since then, a large number of both minerals (e.g., collinsite, fairfieldite, etc.) and synthetic compounds with closely related struc-tures have been investigated, but the structural relation was not always recognised. In the present review we compare the structures of A_nM(XO₄)₂·2H₂O (A = mono- or divalent cation, n = 1, 2; M = di- or trivalent cation; X = penta- or hexavalent cation) compounds with kröhnkite-type infinite chains, and propose a structural classification into six types. The rod group symmetries of the chains are compared. Furthermore, the linkage of these chains to double chains (in krausite-type compounds) and sheets (in yavapaiite-, merwinite-, bafertisite-type and similar structures) is discussed, and the occurrence of octahedral-tetrahedral chains topologically identical to those in kröhnkite (referred to as kröhnkite-type) and similar chains (referred to as kröhnkite-like) in several related compounds is pointed out.