minerals Article New Uranyl Open Framework and Sheet Compounds Formed via In-Situ Protonation of Piperazine by Phosphorous Acid Eric M. Villa 1,2,*,† , Justin N. Cross 1,2,‡ and Thomas E. Albrecht-Schmitt 1,2,§ 1 Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 156 Fitzpatrick Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA;
[email protected] (J.N.C.);
[email protected] (T.E.A.-S.) 2 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected] † Current address: Department of Chemistry, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NB 68178, USA. ‡ Current address: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA. § Current address: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida State University, 95 Chieftain Way, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA. Received: 12 September 2018; Accepted: 19 October 2018; Published: 1 November 2018 Abstract: Two new uranyl compounds were hydrothermally synthesized employing piperazine as an organic templating agent. The piperazine was protonated in-situ by phosphorous acid, forming the piperazinium dication featured in these compounds. The two new structures presented here are a uranyl phosphite 2D sheet and a 3D uranyl mixed phosphite–phosphate network with cation occupied channels. Both included strong hydrogen bonding from the piperazinium cation to the uranyl phosphite or mixed phosphite–phosphate network. These two structures can be reliably formed through careful control of pH of the starting solution and the reaction duration. The piperazinium uranyl phosphite compound was the latest in a family of uranyl phosphites, and demonstrates the structural versatility of this combination.