Highlights at a glance https://tu-dresden.de/mn/chemie/ac/ac2/forschung/highlights https://tu-dresden.de/logo.png Highlights at a glance Unconventional Spin State in Pr3Fe3Sb7 © Falk Pabst An unusual magnetic behavior was discovered in the rare earth iron antimonide Pr3Fe3Sb7, which arises from a complex interplay of 3d and 4f magnetism. Crystal growth in a molten bismuth flux allowed the in-depth study of the bulk magnetic and electrical transport properties. A combined approach by extensive magnetization measurements, Mößbauer spectroscopy and neutron diffraction revealed the magnetic structure and the competing interactions of two different substructures. A MINERAL PUMP FOR GOLD IN THE EARTH’S CRUST © G. Pokrovski, M. Kokh, M. Blanchard, D. Testemale To form an ore deposit, gold needs to be concentrated from a thousand up to a million times more than its average abundance in the Earth's crust (only about 1 mg per ton of rock). In nature, only very few minerals, namely arsenian pyrite and arsenopyrite, are known to present such enrichment factors for gold. However, despite the enormous implications, the state of this ‘invisible' gold and the cause of its entrapment in these sulfides remained one of the greatest mysteries in the history of the study of ore deposits. Reaction mechanism of the polyol process in the intermetallic Bi-Ni system © Anorg. Chemie II Bi-Ni core-shell intermediate By trapping intermediates using a synthesis microwave, the formation mechanism of BiNi particles in the polyol process was revealed. A successive reduction with a subsequent diffusion process was determined. The reaction is dependent on various parameters, which have been investigated as well. Dissolution of metal oxides in ionic liquid © Janine Richter The ionic liquid [Hbet][NTf2] is suitable for the dissolution of numerous metal oxides at low temperature. Starting from a resulting complex compound, first steps towards downstream chemistry were made. Hydroflux Synthesis of oxo hydroxoferrate K2–xFe4O7–x(OH)x © Ralf Albrecht Reaction of iron(III) nitrate in a potassium hydroxide hydroflux leads to the oxo-hydroxoferrate(III) K2−xFe4O7–x(OH)x. This compound shows an unusual vacancy ordering of the potassium positions and decomposes topotactically into β’’ or β-aluminate-type K1+x’Fe11O17. Low-Temperature Ordering in the Cluster Compound (Bi8)Tl[AlCl4]3 © Maximilian Knies Via reaction in the ionic liquid [BMIm]Cl·4AlCl3 we recently succeeded to synthesize (Bi8)Tl[AlCl4]3. In the cluster compound, that - at room temperature - may be regarded as a perovskite structure type with two complex ions, low temperature ordering of bismuth polycations could be observed. Novel bonding situation between copper and bismuth © Maximilian Knies, Martin Kaiser Copper and bismuth typically form binary compounds only under extreme conditions. However, we recently succeeded in synthesizing the intermetalloid cluster (CuBi8)3+ under mild reaction conditions. From graphite and nitrogen to CCN3– in just one step © Franziska Jach The elements carbon and nitrogen are generally unreactive. Reactive precursors like ammonia are thus employed for C–N bond-formation in organic synthesis. Surprisingly, the synthesis of CCN3– suceeded from the elements – a quasi organic molecular anion postulated decades ago. The anion is stabilized in the bulk host framework of the nitridometalate Ba5[TaN4][C2N].