crystals Article Neutron and XRD Single-Crystal Diffraction Study and Vibrational Properties of Whitlockite, the Natural Counterpart of Synthetic Tricalcium Phosphate Francesco Capitelli 1,* , Ferdinando Bosi 2 , Silvia C. Capelli 3, Francesco Radica 4,5 and Giancarlo Della Ventura 4,5,6 1 Istituto di Cristallografia—CNR, Via Salaria Km 29.300, 00016 Monterotondo (Rome), Italy 2 Dipartimento Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy;
[email protected] 3 Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Didcot OX11 0QX, UK;
[email protected] 4 Dipartimento di Scienze, Università Roma Tre, Largo S. L. Murialdo 1, 00146 Rome, Italy;
[email protected] (F.R.);
[email protected] (G.D.V.) 5 LNF Istituti Nazionali di Frascati, Via E. Fermi 40, 00044 Frascati (Rome), Italy 6 INGV, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143 Rome, Italy * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +39-06-90672161 Abstract: A crystal chemical investigation of a natural specimen of whitlockite, ideally Ca9Mg(PO4)6[PO3(OH)], from Palermo Mine (USA), was achieved by means of a combination of electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) in WDS mode, single-crystal neutron diffraction probe (NDP) and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Citation: Capitelli, F.; Bosi, F.; The crystal-chemical characterization resulted in the empirical formula (Ca8.682Na0.274Sr0.045)S9.000 Capelli, S.C.; Radica, F.; Della Ventura, 2+ 2+ (Ca0.0340.996)S1.000(Mg0.533Fe 0.342Mn 0.062Al0.046)S0.983(P1.006O4)6[PO3(OH0.968F0.032)S1.000].