Chemically induced symmetry breaking in the crystal structure of guanidinium uranyl sulfate

The novel uranyl sulfate templated by protonated guanidinium molecules was obtained from aqueous solution under ambient conditions. Its crystal structure was determined by the single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and evaluated using a topological approach and information-based complexity calculations. The Se-for-S substitution resulted in a symmetry breaking (from orthorhombic in sulfate to monoclinic in selenate) due to the rearrangement of oxygen atoms, so the resulting symmetry is a consequence of interplay between the template-substructure interactions and size of the tetrahedral cation.