The alpha-Sulfur (A16) Structure

Last modified 5 April 2001

You can now

• see the structure from several perspectives;
• examine the structure with an external viewer; or
• download the coordinates of the atoms in these pictures in XYZ format.

Sulfur forms eight-atom molecular rings. If you don't see them in the pictures above, here are two of them.

Note the coordinates used in the pictures above are adjusted so that the origin is on an inversion site. Pearson chooses the alternative setting for the Fddd space group.

• Prototype: alpha-S
• Pearson Symbol: oF128
• Strukturbericht Designation: A16
• Space Group: Fddd (Cartesian and lattice coordinate listings available)
• Number: 70
• Primitive Vectors:
  • A₁ = ½ a Y + ½ a Z
  • A₂ = ½ a X + ½ a Z
  • A₃ = ½ a X + ½ a Y
• Basis Vectors:

  All of the sulfur atoms sit on (32h) sites, each having eight atoms in the primitive unit cell. Rather than repeat all of the basis vectors four times, we'll denote the basis vectors as B_i(j), meaning the i^th atom (i = [1-8]) in the j^th group (j = 1,2,3,4). Each group j is specified by three coordinates, (x(j),y(j),z(j)), as noted below:

  B1(j)	=	+ [y(j)+z(j)-x(j)] A1 + [z(j)+x(j)-y(j)] A2 + [x(j)+y(j)-z(j)] A3	=	+ x(j) a X + y(j) b Y + z(j) c Z	[S(j)]	(32h)
  B2(j)	=	- [y(j)+z(j)-x(j)] A1 - [z(j)+x(j)-y(j)] A2 - [x(j)+y(j)-z(j)] A3	=	- x(j) a X - y(j) b Y - z(j) c Z	[S(j)]	(32h)
  B3(j)	=	+ [½-x(j)-y(j)-z(j)] A1 + [x(j)+y(j)-z(j)] A2 + [z(j)+x(j)-y(j)] A3	=	+ x(j) a X + [¼ - y(j)] b Y + [¼-z(j)] c Z	[S(j)]	(32h)
  B4(j)	=	+ [½+x(j)+y(j)+z(j)] A1 - [x(j)+y(j)-z(j)] A2 - [z(j)+x(j)-y(j)] A3	=	- x(j) a X + [¼ + y(j)] b Y + [¼+z(j)] c Z	[S(j)]	(32h)
  B5(j)	=	+ [x(j)+y(j)-z(j)] A1 + [½-x(j)-y(j)-z(j)] A2 + [y(j)+z(j)-x(j)] A3	=	+ [¼-x(j)] a X + y(j) b Y + [¼-z(j)] c Z	[S(j)]	(32h)
  B6(j)	=	- [x(j)+y(j)-z(j)] A1 + [½+x(j)+y(j)+z(j)] A2 - [y(j)+z(j)-x(j)] A3	=	+ [¼+x(j)] a X - y(j) b Y + [¼+z(j)] c Z	[S(j)]	(32h)
  B7(j)	=	+ [z(j)+x(j)-y(j)] A1 + [y(j)+z(j)-x(j)] A2 + [½-x(j)-y(j)-z(j)] A3	=	+ [¼-x(j)] a X + [¼-y(j)] b Y + z(j) c Z	[S(j)]	(32h)
  B8(j)	=	- [z(j)+x(j)-y(j)] A1 - [y(j)+z(j)-x(j)] A2 + [½+x(j)+y(j)+z(j)] A3	=	+ [¼+x(j)] a X + [¼+y(j)] b Y - z(j) c Z	[S(j)]	(32h)

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