Hydrogen bonding system in euchroite, Cu2(AsO4)(OH)(H2O)3: low-temperature crystal-structure refinement and solid-state density functional theory modeling

Abstract

Hydrogen bonding in euchroite has been studied by means of low-temperature single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) and solid-state density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The mineral is orthorhombic, P212121, a = 10.0350(8), b = 10.4794(8), c = 6.1075(5) A, V = 642.27(9) A3, and Z = 4. The structure has been refined to R 1 = 0.036 for 2436 unique observed reflections with |F o| ≥ 4σ F . DFT calculations were performed with the CRYSTAL14 software package. The basic features of the crystal structure of euchroite are the same as described by previous authors. There are two symmetrically-independent Cu sites octahedrally coordinated by O atoms. The CuO6 octahedra are strongly distorted containing four short (1.927–2.012 A) and two long (2.360–2.797 A) bonds each, in agreement with the expected Jahn-Teller distortion of an octahedrally-coordinated Cu2+ cation. There is one symmetrically-independent As site that is tetrahedrally coordinated by four O atoms to form an arsenate oxyanion, AsO4 3−. The structure is based upon chains of edge-sharing CuO6 octahedra running parallel to [001]. The chains are linked by AsO4 tetrahedra into a three-dimensional framework, which is stabilized by hydrogen bonds formed from OH and H2O groups. The coordinates of H atoms determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and those calculated using DFT are very similar. The distance Δ between experimental and theoretical H positions does not exceed 0.250 A, except for the H72 site, for which Δ = 0.609 A. The hydrogen bonding scheme in euchroite is rather complex and involves a combination of relatively strong two-center hydrogen bonds as well as few three-center (bifurcated) hydrogen bonds. The largest difference between the XRD and DFT results involves the H72 atom of the H2O7 molecule and can be assigned to the effect of temperature, which favors a strong linear hydrogen bond at 0 K (calculated) and a bifurcated three-center bond at 100 K (measured). The Cu-H2O configurations are bent for the H2O7 and H2O6 groups and are almost planar for the H2O8 groups.