Calcium nitride (Ca<sub>2</sub>N), a redetermination

Charles F. Baker, Marten G. Barker, Alexander J. Blake

Acta Crystallographica Section E Structure Reports Online · 2001 · 11 citations · 1 references

Concepts

Abstract

Ca2N adopts the anti-CdCl2 structure in which two sheets of calcium ions enclose a sheet of N3− ions, with each calcium bonded to three N3− at 2.4500 (3) Å and each nitro­gen octahedrally coordinated by six calciums. Within one calcium sheet, each metal has three others at 3.2944 (8) Å and a further six at 3.6271 (3) Å. The distance between two calcium layers with no intervening nitro­gen layer is 4.3221 (6) Å, and this intervening region contains no observable electron density. Neutron and X-ray powder diffraction studies have shown that the c-axis dimension changes with the synthetic method employed. In the single-crystal, c is significantly lower, reflecting the higher temperature employed in its formation.

References

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