1988 Volume 96 Issue 1111 Pages 305-309
Single crystals of boron-containing apatite (BAP) were grown by standard flux growth technique with excess B2O3 as flux. A mixture with the composition 35CaO-5P2O5-60B2O3 (wt%) was heated at 1200°C for 10 hours and then cooled at a rate of 8.3°C/h. Hexagonal prismatic crystals (0.3mm×0.3mm×11mm) were obtained. The chemical composition of BAP's was expressed as a solid solution in the system Ca10(PO4)5BO4-Ca9.5(PO4)6BO2. BAP with the composition Ca9.64(P5.73B0.27O24) (BO2)0.73 is trigonal, space group P3 with a=9.456 (1), c=6.905 (1) Å and Z=1. The structure was refined to R=0.050 and Rw=0.044 for 1257 independent reflections. The structure is apatitic in character but the B atom at (00 1/2 forms a linear O-B-O group.
