The structural investigation of Sn
2P
2O
7 was carried out for the first time by means of single crystaland powder X-ray diffraction. The crystal structure of
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
-Sn
2P
2O
7 pyrophosphate was solved usingsingle-crystal X-ray data at room temperature and at 93 K. At room temperature the structure (triclinic,
P![](/images/entities/onemacr.gif)
,
a = 5.2776(5) Å,
b = 11.5413(12) Å,
c = 11.6360(12) Å,
![](/images/gifchars/alpha.gif)
= 102.911(8)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
,
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
= 99.303(8)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
,
![](/images/gifchars/gamma.gif)
=98.899(8)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
,
V = 668.2(3) Å
3,
Z = 4) contains the [P
2O
7]
4- pyrophosphate groups oriented in mutuallyperpendicular directions with tin atoms situated in large structural interstices. This structure remainsintact at low temperatures. The Sn
2P
2O
7 undergoes a reversible structural transition at 623 K found bythermal analysis which is accompanied by increase of the unit cell symmetry to monoclinic. The crystalstructure of the high temperature
![](/images/gifchars/alpha.gif)
-Sn
2P
2O
7 form was solved using high-temperature powder diffractiondata collected at 773 K. The structural motif of the high temperature form (monoclinic,
P2
1/
n,
a =7.1765(4) Å,
b = 9.2874(6) Å,
c = 5.2968(4) Å,
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
= 106.034(3)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
,
V = 339.30(5) Å
3,
Z = 2) is closelyrelated to the room temperature modification. The stereochemically active lone pairs of the tin atomswere localized with the ELF calculations for both polymorph modifications. In addition, the electronicstate of tin was characterized using
119Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy.