Solid-state syntheses, crystal structures and properties of two novel metal sulfur chlorides—Zn6S5Cl2 and Hg3ZnS2Cl4

Two novel metal sulfur chlorides – Zn6S5Cl2 (1) and Hg3ZnS2Cl4 (2) – were obtained by solid-state reactions and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compound 1 is characteristic of a 1-D tunnel-like structure, which connects to each other to construct a 3-D framework with the chlorine atoms locating at the voids. Compound 2 crystallizes in the acentric space group P63mc of the hexagonal system. Compound 2 features a 2-D layered motif, which is composed by the interconnected 12-membered Hg6S3Cl3 rings with chair-like conformation. There are ZnSCl3 tetrahedra located between the layers, yielding a sandwich-like structure. TG-DTA measurement shows that compound 1 is thermally stable up to 220 °C. Optical absorption spectra reveal the presence of sharp optical gap of 2.71 and 2.65 eV for 1 and 2, respectively.