CALORIMETRIC STUDIES AND CRYSTAL STRUCTURE OF [C 2 H 10 N 2 ] 5 (Sb 2 Br 11 ) 2 4H 2 O S. Chaabouni 1 *, S. Kamoun 1 , and J. Jaud 2 1 Laboratoire de Cristallochimie du Solide, Ecole Nationale d’Inge ´nieurs de Sfax, 3038, Sfax, Tunisia 2 Centre d’Elaboration de Mate ´riaux et d’Etudes Structurales, CNRS, BP 4347, 31055 Toulouse Cedex, France (Refereed) Received June 11, 1997; Accepted June 18, 1997 ABSTRACT The chemical preparation and the main crystallographic, calorimetric, and struc- tural features are given for a new alkyldiammonium antimony halogenide. [NH 3 (CH 2 ) 2 NH 3 ] 5 (Sb 2 Br 11 ) 2 4H 2 O salt is monoclinic P2 1 /a with unit-cell dimen- sions a = 14.346(2), b = 13.206(1), c = 17.027(2) Å, = 113.05(1)°, Z = 2; D m = 2.985 M g -3 ;D x = 2.941 M g -3 ; = 127.3 cm -1 ; F(000) = 2388; T = 298 K; R = 0.052 and R w = 0.057 for 4136 observed reflections. The exami- nation of the structure shows a layer arrangement parallel to the b axis: planes of (Sb 2 Br 11 ) 5- bioctahedra alternate with planes of [(CH 2 ) 2 (NH 3 ) 2 ] 2+ . The (Sb 2 Br 11 ) 5- bioctahedra are connected through O(W)–H…Br hydrogen bonds, so that infinite chains of the composition [Sb 2 Br 11 (H 2 O)] n 5n- are formed in the structure parallel to the b axis. The structure of this compound is built from (Sb 2 Br 11 ) 5- anions, [(CH 2 ) 2 (NH 3 ) 2 ] 2+ cations, and zeolitic water molecules con- nected by hydrogen bonds. The thermogravimetric analysis and differential scan- ning calorimetric studies show that the dehydration of this salt occurs in two steps: at 377 and 391 K, respectively, with a loss of two water molecules per step. The anhydrous salt starts to decompose at 490 K. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd KEYWORDS: C. differential scanning calorimetry, C. thermogravimetric analysis, D. crystal structure *To whom correspondence should be addressed. Materials Research Bulletin, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 377–388, 1998 Copyright © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0025-5408/98 $19.00 + .00 PII S0025-5408(97)00251-1 377