The crystal structure of γ-AlD3

gamma-AID(3) was synthesized from LiAlD4 and AlCl3 via thermal decomposition of aluminum hydride etherate in presence of excess LiAlD4-gamma-AlD3 was determined by powder neutron diffraction and synchrotron X-ray diffraction to crystallize in the space group Pnnm. The orthorhombic structure has unit-cell dimensions a=7.3360(3) angstrom, b=5.3672(2) angstrom and c=5.7562(1) angstrom, and it consists of both comer- and edge-sharing AID(6) octahedra where each hydrogen is shared between two octahedra. The average Al-D distances in octahedra with edge-sharing is 1.706 angstrom and in the octahedra with only corner-sharing 1.719 angstrom. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.