Beryllium (atomic symbol: Be, atomic number: 4) is a soft metal with gray metallic appearance that has many applications. It is widely used in X-ray equipment and nuclear reactions. It is also a common element in phosphorus and is found in beryl, chrysoberyl, and phenakite.
beryllium phosphate is an ionic compound that consists of Be2+ and PO43- ions. It has a density of 2.34 g per mL and an average pH of 6.9.
Three new organically templated beryllium phosphates and phosphites, [C2H8N][Be2(PO4) (HPO4) (H2O)]*(H2O)0.5 (1), [C3H12N2][Be3(HPO3)4] (2) and [C6H18N2][Be3(HPO3)4] (3), have been synthesized. Compound 1 exhibits a double-layered structure and shows left- and right-handed helical channels along the [010] direction. Compound 2 presents a three-dimensional interrupted open-framework constructed from two-dimensional layers pillared by phosphite nodes.
In the presence of different organic structure-directing agents, solvothermal crystallization results in the formation of three kinds of beryllium hydrogen phosphate frameworks that have (3,4)-connected networks with 10-ring, 12-ring, and 16-ring channels, respectively. The compounds are characterized by their neutral inorganic-organic hybrid structures and an interrupted zeolitic GIS topology with dual roles of the amine molecules as charge-balancing and coordinating agents to the beryllium atoms. Moreover, two new open-framework beryllium phosphates with large 16-membered ring (16 MR) channels have been synthesized by in situ generated viologen dications from the alkylation of 4,4′-bipyridine (4,4′-bpy) and 2,2′-bpy molecules as SDAs. These compounds are the first examples of open-framework beryllium hydrogen phosphates with 16-ring channels.