Functional substitution of coordination polyhedron in crystal structure of silicates

On the bases of the study of comparative crystal chemistry of silicates it has been concluded that the octahedra and square pyramids of Ti-0 and Zr-0 play functional role of tetrahedra of Si-0 in the construction of crystal structures. Therefore, those silicates may be named titano-and zircono-silicates. Because of the functional similarity of coordination polyhedra, the structures of cristobalite and feldspar have been compared with those of perovskite and garnet, respectively. As a new concept, the functional replacement of tetrahedra by octahedra and/or pyramids is defined by the authors of this paper for favorable comparison of relative crystal structures.