Crystal Chemistry of MgAl2O4 Spinel Solid Solution-Peculiar Site Preference of Cation Observed Under Substitution and Pressure-

Considerable efforts have been devoted to the structural studies of spinel group minerals or type compounds because of their importance as constituents of the Earth’s crust and mantle. Despite their simple structures, many spinel type compounds exhibit complex disordering phenomena involving the mixing of cation on two sites, which have important consequences for both thermodynamic and physical properties. The cation distributions and the structural variation in MgAl2-xGaxO4 solid-solution have been clarified using 27Al MAS NMR measurements and single crystal X-ray diffraction. The determined local distance in the solid solution corresponds with the bond distance expected from the effective ionic radii except Al-O distance in the tetrahedral site. We have revealed that the Al-O distance in the tetrahedral site in spinel solid solution is about 0.15 A longer than the expected value. Boron is the same group element as Al and Ga and its ionic radius is considerably small. Single crystals of MgAl2-xBxO4 spinel were synthesized under high pressure and high temperature. The maximum content of boron was about x = 0.13 at 1273 K and 11 GPa. The smallest B ion occupies the octahedral site in top priority in the spinel solid solution of the Mg-Al-B systems. The B3+ ions can replace considerably bigger Al3+ ion under pressure. These spinel solid-solutions are largely disordered crystals. Only the positional shifts of oxygen ion have been relaxing the disorder in the solid solution.