Crystal Chemistry of Minerals and Inorganic Compounds with Lavendulan Clusters. III. Information-Based Analysis of Structural Complexity

The article presents the results of symmetry and information analysis of the structural complexity of 18 minerals and inorganic compounds with layers of lavendulan clusters. It is shown that the point symmetry of clusters can vary from maximum (4mm) to minimum (1), whereas layer symmetry is never trivial. In all known lavendulan structures, there is only one symmetrically independent type of lavendulan cluster. Minerals and compounds with hydrogen bonds have the lowest layer groups, while the most symmetrical layers are generally characteristic of anhydrous synthetic compounds. The complexity of the structure is associated with the dissymmetrization of the layer due to interlayer and hydrogen complexes. In general, for the group of structures under consideration, the principles of Pauling parsimony and minimal information are met, which assert the tendency of the crystal structure to the maximal simplicity (maximal configurational entropy).

mineral-mimetic compounds, lavendulan, crystal structure, symmetry, structural complexity, information