A high-pressure single-crystal synchrotron diffraction study of NH₄RbTe₄O₉·2H₂O: stability of three different TeO_x coordination polyhedra

The crystal structure of ammonium rubidium nonaoxotetratellurate(IV) dihydrate has been studied as a function of pressure up to 7.40 GPa. The ambient-pressure structure is characterized by the co-existence of three different Te—O polyhedra (TeO₃, TeO₄ and TeO₅), which are connected to form layers. NH₄⁺, H₂O and Rb⁺ are incorporated between the layers. Both the Rb1 position, which is located on a twofold axis, and the Rb2 position are partially occupied. The three different types of coordination polyhedra around Te⁴⁺ are stable up to at least 5.05 GPa. No phase transition is observed. The fit of the unit-cell volume as a function of pressure gives a zero-pressure bulk modulus of 34 (1) GPa with a zero-pressure volume of V₀ = 2620 (4) ų [B′ = 1.4 (2)].