The crystal chemistry of Mn3+ in the clino- and orthozoisite structure types, Ca2M3 3+[OH|O|SiO4|Si2O7]: A structural and spectroscopic study of some natural piemontites and “thulites” and their synthetic equivalents

K2Mn3O(OH)(VO4)(V2O7) with Sawtooth Chains of Multivalent Manganese Triangular Trimer Units: Magnetic Susceptibility Shrouding a Long-Range Antiferromagnetic Order of Ferromagnetic Triangles

ortho-Pyrovanadate (or ortho-diorthovanadate) K2Mn23+Mn2+O(OH)(VO4)(V2O7) synthesized hydrothermally crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pnma with a = 17.9155(5), b = 5.8940(2), c = 10.9971(3) Å, V = 1161.23(6) Å3, and Z = 4. Its crystal structure features linear chains of edge-sharing Mn3+O6 octahedra with every second pair of Mn3+O6 octahedra condensed with a Mn2+O6 octahedron on one side of a chain in a sawtooth pattern so that each sawtooth chain consists of a triangular trimer. These sawtooth chains, running parallel to the b axis and linked by the VO4 and V2O7 groups, form a framework with channels populated by K atoms. The new compound is a structural analogue of the mineral zoisite Ca2Al3O(OH)(SiO4)(Si2O7), showing a striking example of very different chemical compositions. K2Mn3O(OH)(VO4)(V2O7) undergoes a phase transition into an ordered antiferromagnetic (AFM) state at TN = 14.4 K, which was detected by high-frequency electron spin resonance as well as by both specific heat Cp and Fisher's specific heat d(χT)/dT measurements. However, this phase transition was not detected by magnetic susceptibility measurements. The origin of this puzzling observation was resolved by evaluating the spin exchanges of K2Mn3O(OH)(VO4)(V2O7), which revealed that each triangular trimer is a ferromagnetically coupled cluster, and the observed ordering involves an AFM ordering between the ferromagnetic (FM) clusters. This ordering is shrouded in magnetic susceptibility measurements due to the susceptibility contributions from the individual FM triangular trimers even below TN. We showed that the magnetic susceptibility of K2Mn3O(OH)(VO4)(V2O7) between ∼30 K and room temperature is satisfactorily described by an AFM chain made up of ferromagnetically coupled triangular clusters, as described by a few spin-exchange parameters.

Crystal field effect on EPR and optical absorption properties of natural green zoisite

In this study the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and optical absorption (OA) of natural crystal of zoisite were investigated after γ ((60)Co) irradiation and high temperature annealing. EPR measurements show that the zoisite from Tefilo Otoni MG Brazil contain Cr(3+), Fe(3+) and Mn(2+) ions and occupy distorted Al(3+) octahedral and tetrahedral sites which are subjected to the action of a strong crystal field in axial direction. Absorption bands which in principle give rise to sets of EPR lines between 500 and 2500 G were found using the deconvolution method. The application of high doses of gamma ray and high temperature annealing has shown no significant effects on EPR and OA spectra. Spin-allowed, spin-forbidden and crystal field parameters were calculated for 3d(3) configuration and interpreted using the spin Hamiltonian formalism containing axial and rhombic terms in low symmetries.