Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2024
Fourier syntheses have been used to establish the arrangement of organic molecules in the interlamellar regions of a 16.10 Å phase of ornithine-vermiculite and a 16.92 Å phase of 6-aminohexanoic acid-vermiculite. The organic cations form two layers parallel to the silicate surfaces in ornithine-vermiculite and in 6-aminohexanoic acid-vermiculite the organic cations form ascending and descending “stairs” from the silicate sheets.
Ornithine-vermiculite forms a true single layer polytype but by contrast 6-aminohexanoic acid-vermiculite is two-layered and has a true c axis of 34.09 Å. Since a two layered vermiculite was used as a starting material to prepare the organic complexes, exchangeable organic cations affect the stacking sequence of the silicate sheets.