New cerium nitride chlorides: Ce6Cl12N2 and CeNCl

Abstract

The compound CeNCl is shown to be isotypic with tetragonal BiOCl with lattice parameters a=b=4.079(2) Å, c=6.837(2) Å. The compound Ce6Cl12N2 was prepared from CeCl3, Ce and NaN3 in a sealed Nb tube at 750 °C. The structure of Ce6Cl12N2 was solved by X-ray single crystal diffraction and shown to contain edge-shared, nitrogen-centered, cerium tetrahedra. The lattice parameters for Ce6Cl12N2 were determined to be a=11.233(4) Å, b=16.527(8) Å, c=10.708(3) Å, β=90.15° in the spacegroup P21c.