Dominic Freudenmann and Claus Feldmann from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, have used an ionic liquid to obtain transparent red crystals of [Bi3GaS5]2[Ga3Cl10]2[GaCl4]2·S8.
In this Dalton Transactions Hot article they explain that the cation unit of the crystal [Bi3GaS5]2+ appears as a (Bi–S–Ga)-heterocubane, and unusually, the anion [Ga3Cl10]– is in a star shaped form, with three (GaCl4) tetrahedra sharing a single central chlorine atom. This type of structure is particularly exciting as it has only previously been observed in fluoride complexes.
Dominic Freudenmann and Claus Feldmann
Dalton Trans., 2010, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0DT00985G , Paper
