The crystal structure of arsenopalladinite, Pd8As2.5Sb0.5, and its relation to mertieite-II, Pd8Sb2.5 As0.5

The crystal structure of arsenopalladinite, Pd8As2.5Sb0.5, from the Kaarreoja River, Inari commune, Finnish Lapland, Finland, was solved to R1 = 0.0451 on the basis of single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The mineral is triclinic, space group P. The unit-cell parameters are: a = 7.3344(7), b = 7.3870(8), c = 7.5255(7) A, α = 98.869(8), β = 102.566(8), γ = 119.096(11)°, V = 331.19(7) A3 and Z = 2. The crystal structure of arsenopalladinite consists of an alternation of layers made by pnictogen (As, Sb) and layers made by palladium atoms stacked along the c axis. Arsenic and (As, Sb) nets exhibit a triangular topology (A and D nets), whereas palladium layers show triangular or pentagon–triangular nets (B and C nets). The unit-cell contains 6 layers, with the ABCDCBA stacking sequence. Although arsenopalladinite shows characteristics very similar (nets of the same topology) to the closely-related mineral mertieite-II, Pd8Sb2.5As0.5, it has a different stacking sequence.