Redetermination of the crystal structure of β-zinc molybdate from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data

The crystal structure of the β-polymorph of ZnMoO(4) was re-determined on the basis of single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. In comparison with previous powder X-ray diffraction studies [Katikaneani & Arunachalam (2005 ▸). Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. pp. 3080–3087; Cavalcante et al. (2013 ▸). Polyhedron, 54, 13–25], all atoms were refined with anisotropic displacement parameters, leading to a higher precision with respect to bond lengths and angles. β-ZnMoO(4) adopts the wolframite structure type and is composed of distorted ZnO(6) and MoO(6) octa­hedra, both with point group symmetry 2. The distortion of the octa­hedra is reflected by variation of bond lengths and angles from 2.002 (3)–2.274 (4) Å, 80.63 (11)–108.8 (2)° for equatorial and 158.4 (2)– 162.81 (14)° for axial angles (ZnO(6)), and of 1.769 (3)–2.171 (3) Å, 73.39 (16)–104.7 (2), 150.8 (2)–164.89 (15)° (MoO(6)), respectively. In the crystal structure, the same type of MO(6) octa­hedra share edges to built up zigzag chains extending parallel to [001]. The two types of chains are condensed by common vertices into a framework structure. The crystal structure can alternatively be described as derived from a distorted hexa­gonally closed packed arrangement of the O atoms, with Zn and Mo in half of the octa­hedral voids.