New Aluminate with a Tetrahedral Structure Closely Related to the C₈₄ Fullerene

A new aluminate Sr33Bi24+δAl48O141+3δ/2, having an F4̄3m cubic structure (a = 25.090 Å, Z = 4) and forming a close packed face centered cubic array of “Al84” fullerene geometry, has been discovered. This original structure consists of corner-sharing AlO4 tetrahedra forming “Al84O106” cubic units whose assemblage delimits five types of cages, three of them being empty, one being occupied by strontium, and the fifth one forming the huge spheric fullerene-type cavity. In the latter, strontium, oxygen, and bismuth ions form concentric spheres, with an onion-skin-like configuration. The latter ions are disposed into a compact “Bi16O52-n□n” anion whose the exceptional geometry is characterized by a strong stereoactivity of the 6s2 lone pair of Bi3+.