Synthesis and structure of QD-6: a novel aluminoborate constructed from unprecedented [B@Al6O24] and polyborate clusters.

A novel aluminoborate (NH(4))(6)[C(5)NH(12)](6)[Al(12)B(65)O(105)(OH)(33)]·(H(2)O)(15) (QD-6), has been synthesized under mild hydrothermal conditions and characterized by IR, elemental analysis, TGA, powder and single-crystal X-ray diffractions. This compound crystallizes in the rhombohedral space group R3 (No. 148) with the lattice constants a = 23.7421(2) Å, c = 24.7699(3) Å, V = 12091.9(2) Å(3), and Z = 3. QD-6 consists of two unprecedented aluminoborate clusters, [Al(6)B(34)O(54)(OH)(18)](6-) and [Al(6)B(31)O(51)(OH)(15)](6-), which are built from the same hexagon-like [B@Al(6)O(24)] clusters and [B(11)O(17)(OH)(6)] or [B(10)O(16)(OH)(5)] polyborates.