Crystallographic Group-Subgroup Relations

Translationengleiche subgroups have an unaltered translation lattice, i.e. the translation vectors and therefore the size of the primitive unit cells of group and subgroup coincide. The symmetry reduction in this case is accomplished by the loss of other symmetry operations, for example by the reduction of the multiplicity of symmetry axes. This implies a transition to a different crystal class. The example on the right in Fig. 18.1 shows how a fourfold rotation axis is converted to a twofold rotation axis when four symmetry-equivalent atoms are replaced by two pairs of different atoms the translation vectors are not affected. 

Inorganic Structural Chemistry, Second Edition Ulrich Muller 2006 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. 

Examples for translationengleiche group-subgroup relations left, loss of reflection planes right, reduction of the multiplicity of a rotation axis from 4 to 2. The circles of the same type, O and , designate symmetry-equivalent positions 

A suitable way to represent group-subgroup relations is by means of family trees which show the relations from space groups to their maximal subgroups by arrows pointing downwards. In the middle of each arrow the kind of the relation and the index of the symmetry reduction are labeled, for example  

Inorganic Structural Chemistry, Second Edition Ulrich Muller 

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To describe the contents of a unit cell, it is sufficient to specify the coordinates of only one atom in each equivalent set of atoms, since the other atomic positions in the set are readily deduced from space group symmetry. The collection of symmetry-independent atoms in the unit cell is called the asymmetric unit of the crystal structure. In the International Tables, a portion of the unit cell (and hence its contents) is designated as the asymmetric unit. For instance, in space group P2 /c, a quarter of the unit cell within the boundaries 0asymmetric unit. Note that the asymmetric unit may be chosen in different ways in practice, it is preferable to choose independent atoms that are connected to form a complete molecule or a molecular fragment. It is also advisable, whenever possible, to take atoms whose fractional coordinates are positive and lie within or close to the octant 0 < x < 1/2,0 < y < 1/2, and 0 < z < 1 /2. Note also that if a molecule constitutes the asymmetric unit, its component atoms may be related by non-crystallographic symmetry. In other words, the symmetry of the site at which the molecule is located may be a subgroup of the idealized molecular point group. 

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