Redetermination of MgCrO(4)·5H(2)O

The CCD-data based redetermination of the crystal structure of the title compound, magnesium chromate(VI) penta­hydrate, confirms in principle the previous study based on precession film data [Bertrand et al. (1971 ▶). C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. Serie C, 272, 530–533.], but with all atoms refined with anisotropic displacement parameters and with all H atoms localized. This allowed an unambiguous assignment of the hydrogen-bonding pattern. MgCrO(4)·5H(2)O adopts the MgSO(4)·5H(2)O structure type. It contains two Mg(2+) sites on special positions with site symmetry -1, one tetra­hedral CrO(4) group and five water mol­ecules. Four of them coordinate to the Mg(2+) cation, and one is an uncoordinating lattice water mol­ecule. The octa­hedral environment of the Mg(2+) cation is completed by two axial O atoms of CrO(4) tetra­hedra. This arrangement leads to the formation of chains parallel to [011]. Adjacent chains are linked through O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds (one of them bifurcated), involving both the coordi­nating and lattice water mol­ecules, into a three-dimensional network.