Abstract
The structures of fully dehydrated Ca2+- and Rb+-exchanged zeolite X, Ca31Rb30Si100Al92O384(Ca31Rb30-X; a=25.009(1) Å) and Ca28Rb36Si100Al92O384(Ca28Rb36-X; a=24.977(1) Å), have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods in the cubic space group Fd&bar{3} at 21(1) ℃. Their structures were refined to the final error indices R1=0.048 and R2=0.041 with 236 reflections for Ca31Rb30-X, and R1=0.052 and R2=0.043 with 313 reflections for Ca28Rb36-X; I>3σ(I). In both structures, Ca2+ and Rb+ ions are located at six different crystallographic sites. In dehydrated Ca31Rb30-X, sixteen Ca2+ ions fill site I, at the centers of the double 6-rings (Ca-O=2.43(1) Å and O-Ca-O=93.3(3)°). Another fifteen Ca2+ ions occupy site II (Ca-O=2.29(1) Å, O-Ca-O=119.5(5)°) and fifteen Rb+ ions occupy site II opposite single six-rings in the supercage; each is 1.60 Å from the plane of three oxygens (Rb-O=2.77(1) Å and O-Rb-O=91.1(4)°). About two Rb+ ions are found at site II', 1.99 Å into sodalite cavity from their three-oxygen plane (Rb-O=2.99(1) Å and O-Rb-O=82.8(4)°). The remaining thirteen Rb+ ions are statistically distributed over site III, a 48-fold equipoint in the supercages on twofold axes (Rb-O=3.05(1) Å and Rb-O=3.38(1) Å). In dehydrated Ca28Rb36-X, sixteen Ca2+ ions fill site I (Ca-O=2.41(1) Å and O-Ca-O=93.6(3)°) and twelve Ca2+ ions occupy site II (Ca-O=2.31(1) Å, O-Ca-O=119.7(4)°). Sixteen Rb+ ions occupy site II; each is 1.60 Å from the plane of three oxygens (Rb-O=2.81(1) Å and O-Rb-O=90.6(3)°) and four Rb+ ions occupy site II'; each is 1.88 Å into sodalite cavity from their three-oxygen plane (Rb-O=2.99(1) Å and O-Rb-O=83.8(2)°). The remaining sixteen Rb+ ions are found at III site in the supercage (Rb-O=2.97(1) Å and Rb-O=3.39(1) Å). It appears that Ca2+ ions prefer sites I and II in that order, and that Rb+ ions occupy the remaining sites. Rb+ ions are too large to be stable at site I, when they are competing with other smaller cations like Ca2+ ions.