Synthesis, structure, and magnetic behavior of a new chloride thiosilicate with neodymium Nd{sub 3}ClS{sub 2}[SiS{sub 4}]

Single crystals of Nd{sub 3}ClS{sub 2}[SiS{sub 4}] were prepared from the elements. Data collection was carried out using a STOE image plate detector at 293K. The compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pnma with eight familiar units in a cell of dimension:a=1240.3(2),b=1035.8(2),c=1616.4(3)pmThe corresponding residual (all data) for the refined structures is 3.45%. In the crystal structure, the chloride ions form chains along [010] with trigonal coordination by the lanthanide ions.The magnetic behavior of powdered crystals was interpreted by ligand field calculations where the influence of the ligand field was taken into account by applying the angular overlap model and magnetic exchange by the molecular field approximation.