Synthesis and crystal structure of two novel polymorphs of (NaCl)[Cu(HSeO3)2]: a further contribution to the family of layered copper hydrogen selenites

Abstract Crystals of two new polymorphic forms of the known compound (NaCl)[Cu(HSeO3)2], which we term polymorphs II and III, were formed after a ca. one-year dwelling of a crystalline precipitate under mother liquor and upon crystallization in the presence of K+, respectively. Both structures belong to the “layered copper hydroselenite” family. The polymorph II is a structural analog of (KCl)[Cu(HSeO3)2] with a fully ordered Na+ site; the main difference concerns the environment of Cu2+ which is more regular in (NaCl)[Cu(HSeO3)2]-II. In contrast to some expectations, crystallization from solutions containing KCl. NaCl, CuCl2, and H2SeO3 upon evaporation does not result in formation of mixed (Na1−xK x Cl)[Cu(HSeO3)2] crystals, but rather in a separate crystallization of (KCl)[Cu(HSeO3)2] and (NaCl)[Cu(HSeO3)2]-III which exhibits a complex structure with four ordered and one disordered Na+ sites. It is possible that longer crystallization times enhance formation of ordered structures.