Single crystals of SnTe3O8 in the millimetre range grown by chemical vapor transport reactions

SnTe3O8 crystallizes isotypically with other members of the series M IVTeIV 3O8 (M = Ti, Zr, Hf). It comprises [SnO6] octa­hedra and [TeO4] bis­phenoids as the principal structural building blocks.
Tin(IV) trioxidotellurate(IV), SnTe3O8, is a member of the isotypic M IVTeIV 3O8 (M = Ti, Zr, Hf, Sn) series crystallizing with eight formula units per unit cell in space group Ia . In comparison with the previous crystal structure model of SnTe3O8 based on powder X-ray diffraction data [Meunier & Galy (1971 ▸). Acta Cryst. B27, 602–608], the current model based on single-crystal X-ray data is improved in terms of precision and accuracy. Nearly regular [SnO6] octa­hedra (Sn site symmetry . .) are situated in the voids of an oxidotellurate(IV) framework built up by corner-sharing [TeO4] bis­phenoids (Te site symmetry 2..). A qu­anti­tative structural comparison revealed a very high degree of similarity for the structures with M = Ti, Zr, Sn in the M IVTe3O8 series.