Z. Naturforsch. 2016; 71(9)b: 993–995
Jörg M. Bauchert, Harald Henning and Thomas Schleid*
Synthesis and crystal structure of anhydrous
Na[MnO4]
DOI 10.1515/znb-2016-0099
Received April 28, 2016; accepted May 11, 2016
cation carrying seven independent, vertex-grafted, iso-
lated [MnO4]− anions.
Abstract: There are numerous reports in the literature
about the amount of hydrate water in sodium permanga-
nate, which is said to be between one half and three water
molecules per Na[MnO4]. Because no structural descrip-
tions of the hydrate and the anhydrous compound can be
found yet, this work reports the synthesis of anhydrous
Na[MnO4] via the Muthmann method and its crystal struc-
ture. Na[MnO4] crystallizes as dark purple needles in the
monoclinic space group P21/n with a ꢀ=ꢀ 572.98(5), b ꢀ=ꢀ
842.59(7), c ꢀ=ꢀ 715.47(6) pm, β ꢀ=ꢀ 92.374(3)° and Z ꢀ=ꢀ 4. As
such and with its isotype to Ag[MnO4], Na[MnO4] completes
the series of anhydrous alkali-metal permanganates, com-
prising Li[MnO4] (orthorhombic, Cmcm, Cr[VO4] type) and
the isostructural heavier congeners A[MnO4] (A ꢀ=ꢀ K, Rb,
Cs; orthorhombic, Pnma, Ba[SO4] type).
2 Results and discussion
We were successful in synthesizing anhydrous Na[MnO4],
as opposed to the various hydrated products mentioned
in the literature [1–3]. The thin, dark purple needles of
Na[MnO4] adopt the monoclinic space group P21/n (no. 14)
with a ꢀ=ꢀ 572.98(5), b ꢀ=ꢀ 842.59(7), c ꢀ=ꢀ 715.47(6) pm and β ꢀ=ꢀ
92.374(3)° for four formula units per unit cell (Table 1). In
+
the crystal structure of Na[MnO4] (Table 2), the unique Na
cations reside in a sevenfold oxygen coordination, result-
ing in a distorted pentagonal bipyramid (Fig. 1) as coordi-
nation sphere with d(Na–O) ꢀ=ꢀ 235–277 pm (Table 3). These
[NaO7]13− polyhedra are connected to strands via two O2
atoms, which become further linked to adjacent strands
through shared O3···O3 and O4···O4 edges. Because of
the helical nature of a singular chain, these strands join
together with other strands of this kind to form the achiral
∞3 {[Na(O1)1/1(O2)2/2 (O3)2/2 (O4)2/2 ]7− } framework (Fig. 2),
thereby generating the missing space group symmetry
elements of a glide plane (n) perpendicular to the screw
axis (21) and thus the inversion center. The O1 atom,
which contributes only once to a [NaO7]13− polyhedron,
points into channels running along [010], filled by the
Mn7+ cations thereby forming isolated [MnO4]− tetrahedra
(Fig. 3) with d(Mn–O) ꢀ=ꢀ 159–162 pm. In isotypic Ag[MnO4],
the Mn–O distances within the permanganate units are
slightly longer and range between 160 and 164 pm, while
its lattice parameters (a ꢀ=ꢀ 562.3(4), b ꢀ=ꢀ 834.9(5), c ꢀ=ꢀ
714.0(5) pm, β ꢀ=ꢀ 92.44(5)° [6]) are smaller as compared to
Na[MnO4]. This causes markedly shorter Ag–O distances
(230–267 pm) in a more narrow interval than for the Na–O
distances in Na[MnO4], where only six of them range
from 235 to 259 pm, while the seventh one (Na–O2′) is 277
pm long. In this particular case, the stronger covalently
Keywords: crystal structures; permanganates; sodium.
Dedicated to: Professor Hanskarl Müller-Buschbaum on the
occasion of his 85th birthday.
1 Introduction
Several permanganates of sodium have been reported in
the literature [1–3], but all of them seem to contain water
of hydration in varying amounts, ranging from Na[MnO4] ·
1/2 H2O to Na[MnO4] · 3 H2O. Neither of these publications
offers a detailed crystal structure of the reported pro-
ducts, however. The work reported shows a successful
way to synthesize anhydrous Na[MnO4] and its crystal
structure determination, which clearly reveals the isotype
+
to Ag[MnO4] [4–6], exhibiting a sevenfold coordinated Na
+
bonded Ag cation (ΔEN(Ag/O) ꢀ=ꢀ 1.5 vs. ΔEN(Na/O) ꢀ=ꢀ 2.5)
*Corresponding author: Thomas Schleid, Institut für Anorganische
Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 55, D-70569
Stuttgart, Germany, Fax: +49-(0)-711/685-64241,
Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
[11], which is considered larger (ri ꢀ=ꢀ 115 pm for CN ꢀ=ꢀ 6) [12]
+
than Na (ri ꢀ=ꢀ 102 pm for CN ꢀ=ꢀ 6) [12], does not only lead
to a shrinking of the unit cell in comparison to Na[MnO4],
but seems to compensate this marginally by expanding
the [MnO4]− tetrahedron.
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