A new one-dimensional strontium vanadium tellurite, Sr7V4Te12O41.

Vanadium tellurites display a rich structural chemistry with interesting physical properties, such as second harmonic generation (SHG). Tellurites, i.e. Te(4+)Ox, are often observed in unusual structures and form various structural motifs, including isolated clusters, chains, layers, and three-dimensional networks. Similarly, vanadates, i.e. V(5+)Ox, show rich structural features, such as VO4 tetrahedra, VO5 square pyramids or trigonal bipyramids, and VO6 octahedra. Strontium vanadium tellurite, Sr7V4Te12O41, was obtained from the melt of the solid-state reaction of SrTeO4 and VO2 in a sealed quartz tube as it cooled from 973 K. The crystal structure exhibits a one-dimensional latticework along the a axis comprised of paired Sr3Te3Ox units, namely Sr6Te6O2x+1, with corner-shared TeO4 polyhedra - and specifically the Te lone-pair electrons - facing outward in the bc plane. The Sr6Te6O2x+1 latticework is helical and is layered in the b-axis direction against sheets of corner-shared VO4 tetrahedra, and is linked in the c-axis direction via individual corner-shared SrO8 square prisms.