A new
medium-pore germanosilicate, denoted IM-18, with a three-dimensional
8 × 8 × 10-ring channel system, has been prepared hydrothermally
using 4-dimethylaminopyridine as an organic structure-directing agent
(OSDA). Due to the presence of stacking disorder, the structure elucidation
of IM-18 was challenging, and a combination of different techniques,
including electron diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron
microscopy (HRTEM), and Rietveld refinement using synchrotron powder
diffraction data, was necessary to elucidate the details of the structure
and to understand the nature of the disorder. Rotation electron diffraction
data were used to determine the average structure of IM-18, HRTEM
images to characterize the stacking disorder, and Rietveld refinement
to locate the Ge in the framework and the OSDA occluded in the channels.