Synthesis and crystal structure of a series of incommensurately modulated composite oxohalide compounds

Transparent, needle-like single crystals of the isostructural compounds [Sb4O7+3 delta X4][Zn-3](1+delta) = CL Br, I) delta approximate to 0.2 were obtained from chemical reactions in evacuated and sealed silica tubes. First, the average structure was solved in P211n but the model refined poorly and a lowering of the symmetry to the 3 + 1 dimensional space group P2(1)(alpha 0 gamma)0 gave a significantly better fit to the data. This model used second order positional modulations for all the atoms. Whereas Sb, Cl (Br, I) and most 0 positions were well behaved, there was a mismatch with Zn that was better described in a sub-cell, thus yielding a composite structure. The composite nature of the structure leads to a charge imbalance that is compensated by oxygen vacancies.