Crystal structures of violet phosphorus and red phosphorus

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    Crystal Structures
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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the crystal structures of violet phosphorus and red phosphorus, highlighting discrepancies between sources. Openstax CNX presents a structure with a double bond between phosphorus atoms, while Chemwiki depicts a structure with a dangling bond. For red phosphorus, Wikipedia lacks clarity in its figures, prompting requests for clearer representations. The violet phosphorus structure is identified as monoclinic with 84 atoms in the unit cell, indicating a complex and large unit cell.

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  • Understanding of crystal structures and unit cells
  • Familiarity with allotropes of phosphorus
  • Knowledge of chemical bonding, specifically double bonds and dangling bonds
  • Experience with interpreting scientific figures and diagrams
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  • Research the monoclinic crystal system and its properties
  • Investigate the implications of dangling bonds in crystal stability
  • Explore recent literature on phosphorus allotropes, particularly the article from Wiley
  • Examine the differences in crystal structures between violet and red phosphorus
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Chemists, materials scientists, and researchers interested in the structural properties of phosphorus allotropes and their implications in various applications.

Douasing
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For violet phophorus,it seems that the crystal structures given by two websites are not the same.In Openstax CNX,the link is http://cnx.org/contents/f46e8679-ee00-4073-9f5e-a87ca9955a9e@25.9:67/Chemistry_of_the_Main_Group_El
and the Figure 12 displays it as follows:
graphics14.jpg

But in Chemwiki,the link is http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Inorgan..._The_Nitrogen_Family/Chemistry_of_Phosphorous
and the Figure 3 displays it as follows:

800px-Violet-phosphorus-chain-from-xtal-3D-balls.png

Which is right for these two forms of structure ?
There is a double bond between two phosphorus in the first figure,is the structure reseanable?
There is a dangling bond in the phosphorus in the second one, is the structure stable ?
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For red phosphorus, the Wikipedia does not show a clear figure,for example
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotropes_of_phosphorus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorus#cite_note-berger-8
who can supply a clear figure of the crystal structure?
 
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If violet Phosphorus really forms a crystal structure, then it has (by definition) to be periodic in all 3 directions.

For the purple allotrope the structure appears to be monoclinic with 84 (!) atoms in the unit cell, so the unit
cell will be huge and have an odd shape.

The images you show seem to be the same structure, just truncated differently.

This is a relatively recent article that give more details:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.196610473/abstract