Synthesis and crystal structure of La3RuO7

The synthesis method and crystal structure refinement of La3RuO7 are reported. Powder neutron diffraction data show that La3RuO7 crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Cmcm (no. 63) with a unit cell of a = 11.2093(1), b = 7.4617(1), and c = 7.60771(8) Å. This is the only structure known to have isolated one-dimensional chains of corner-sharing RuO6 octahedra within a nonmagnetic lattice environment. Although the RuO6 octahedra are very regular, sharp bending in the chains results in a Ru–O–Ru angle of 145°.