For a long time, Zintl ions of Group 14 and 15 elements were considered to be remarkable species domiciled in solid-state chemistry that have unexpected stoichiometries and fascinating structures, but were of limited relevance The revival of Zintl ions was heralded by the observation that these species, preformed in solid-state Zintl phases, can be extracted from the lattice of the solids and dissolved in appropriate solvents, and thus become available as reactants and building blocks in solution chemistry The recent upsurge of research activity in this fast-growing field has now provided a rich plethora of new compounds, for example by substitution of these Zintl ions with organic groups and organometallic fragments, by oxidative coupling reactions leading to dimers, oligomers, or polymers, or by the inclusion of metal atoms under formation of endohedral cluster species and intermetalloid compounds; some of these species have good prospects in applications in materials science This Review presents the enormous progress that has been made in Zintl ion chemistry with an emphasis on syntheses, properties, structures, and theoretical treatments

Zintl ions, cage compounds, and intermetalloid clusters of Group 14 and Group 15 elements.

Thermoelectric power generation is foreseen to play a much larger role in the near future, considering the need for alternative energies because of declining natural resources as well as the increasing efficiency of thermoelectric materials. The latter is a consequence of the discoveries of new materials as well as of improvements of established materials by, for example, nanostructuring or band structure engineering. Within this review, two major classes of high-temperature thermoelectrics are presented: clathrates formed by silicides and germanides, and complex antimonides including but not limited to the filled skutterudites. The clathrates and the skutterudites are cage compounds that exhibit low thermal conductivity, reportedly related to the rattling effect of the guest atoms, whereas the other antimonides achieve low thermal conductivity via defects or simply via the high complexity of their crystal structures.

New bulk Materials for Thermoelectric Power Generation: Clathrates and Complex Antimonides†

Zintl‐Ionen, Käfigverbindungen und intermetalloide Cluster der Elemente der 14. und 15. Gruppe

Accurate molecular structures of 16-electron rhodium hydrido boryl complexes: Low-temperature single-crystal X-ray and neutron diffraction and computational studies of [(PR3)2RhHCl(boryl)] (boryl = Bpin, Bcat)

Frank Richter

Papers

cyclo‐Sb: A New, Highly Charged Zintl Anion, Stabilized as an Ion Complex in the Ammoniate [Li(NH3)4]3[Li2(NH3)2Sb5]·2NH3

[Li(NH3)4]3P11·5NH3: preparation and crystal structure of a zintl compound ammoniate with a very high ammonia content