Methodological reconstruction of dioctahedral 1:1 phyllosilicate polytypes

The layered kaolin-group minerals are composed mainly by three polytypes: kaolinite, dickite and nacrite. The geometrical polytypic reconstruction of these phases regards both the topological properties of individual networks (e.g., OH network linked to the hexagonal siloxane surface) and energetic aspect of superposition of cations. Starting from early attempts made by Bookin and Newnham, Zvyagin, Dornberger-Schiff and Durovic proposed their own symbolic representation of these structures. This work used the symbolic proposal of Zvyagin to prepare a methodological strategy to build the 52 species of dioctahedral polytypes. Two examples are shown to demonstrate the methodology and the CIF file of all the structures are made available.