Synthesis and crystal structure of La3RuO7

Abstract The synthesis method and crystal structure refinement of La 3 RuO 7 are reported. Powder neutron diffraction data show that La 3 RuO 7 crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Cmcm (no. 63) with a unit cell of a = 11.2093(1), b = 7.4617(1), and c = 7.60771(8) A. This is the only structure known to have isolated one-dimensional chains of corner-sharing RuO 6 octahedra within a nonmagnetic lattice environment. Although the RuO 6 octahedra are very regular, sharp bending in the chains results in a Ru–O–Ru angle of 145°.