The syntheses, representative crystal structures, and someproperties of a new family ofmicroporous zincophosphate/arsenate materials, denotedM
3Zn
4O(XO
4)
3·
nH
2O(M = Li, Na,K, Rb, Cs, ...; X = P, As;
n = ~3.5-6), arereported. All these materials are based on aflexible, anionic Zn
4O(XO
4)
3network built up from vertex-linked tetrahedral ZnO
4 andXO
4units. Four ZnO
4 units share a vertex, resulting innovel OZn
4 centers. The use of mixedfour-coordinate anion types (XO
43-,O
2-) results in a number of interesting structuralandstability properties. TheM
3Zn
4O(XO
4)
3·
nH
2Onetwork contains only pairs of 3-rings (a spiro-5unit) and 8-rings, and no 4-rings or 6-rings: it encloses roughlyspherical cavities connectedby a three-dimensional network of 8-ring channels propagating in theorthogonal [100], [010],and [001] directions (cubic unit-cell axes). Extraframeworkcations and water moleculesoccupy these cavities and channels. These phases display typical"zeolitic" dehydration/rehydration and ion-exchange reactions with thermal stabilities up to600
C, the highestknown for this type of open-framework Zn(P/As)O material. Theincluded guest cation (Na,Rb, K, Li, ...) has a crucial effect on crystal structure, by orderingin and modifying theconfiguration of the intercavity 8-ring channels. The crystalstructures ofRb
3Zn
4O(PO
4)
3·3.5H
2O,K
3Zn
4O(AsO
4)
3·4H
2O,andNa
3Zn
4O(PO
4)
3·6H
2Oare presented. Crystal data: Rb
3Zn
4O(PO
4)
3·3.5H
2O,
Mr = 881.40, cubic, space group
F3
c (No. 219),
a =15.3423(9) Å,
V =3611.4(6) Å
3,
Z = 8,
Rp = 5.12%,
Rwp =6.78%, 27 parameters, 1874 data points (X-ray Rietveldrefinement).K
3Zn
4O(AsO
4)
3·4H
2O,
Mr =
883.63, cubic, space group
F3
c (No. 219),
a=15.4638(2) Å,
V = 3697.9(2) Å
3,
Z = 8,
Rp = 8.69%,
Rwp = 11.42%, 24 parameters, 2124datapoints (X-ray Rietveld refinement).Na
3Zn
4O(PO
4)
3·6H
2O,
Mr = 739.49, trigonal, spacegroup
R3
c (No. 161),
a = 10.7489(3)Å,
= 60.114(2)
,
V = 880.4(4)Å
3,
Z = 2,
R = 2.49%,
Rw =2.61%, 180 parameters, 846 observed reflections with
I >3
(
I) (single-crystal data).