Translated from Steklo i Keramika, No. 12, pp. 15 -22, December, 2007. The results of an x-ray diffraction investigation of iron aluminate with unit cell parameter a = 8.090(4) Å, cation-defective iron aluminate Fe 0.5 Al 2.23 O 4 with a = 8.002 Å, and a new modification of aluminum oxide synthesized under shock waves from explosives containing aluminum are presented. Aluminum oxide can crystallize in the hexagonal system in a primitive lattice with a = 9.151(1) Å, c = 7.945(2) Å, V = 576 Å 3 or in a tetragonal system in a primitive lattice with one-half the volume -a = 7.941(2) Å, c = 4.575(1) Å, V = 288 Å 3 .In our previous works [1 -3], we were able to synthesize by shock-wave and explosive methods aluminum oxide Al 8/3 O 4 with the unit cell parameters a = 7.935(1) and 7.953(3) Å [1, 2] with structure different from g-Al 8/3 O 4 and cation-defective spinel Al 0.67 = 33 [Al] 2 O 4 with a = 7.905 Å [4]. The unit cell parameter of the Al 8/3 O 4 crystals synthesized in [2] is essentially equal to the parameter a (7.948 Å) of s-Al 2 O 3 crystals grown from melt [5]. Investigation of s-Al 2 O 3 crystals has shown that the cationic distribution and the structure correspond to the crystal-chemical formula Al[Al 5/3 = 1/3 ]O 4 -Al 2.667 O 4 . The interplanar distances of the synthesized aluminum oxide in [2] are essentially identical to those of s-Al 2 O 3 , but the intensity of lines with hkl = 422, 511, and 440 are not always the same as the intensities of the lines of s-Al 2 O 3 for the same values hkl. This indicated that a phase with a structure different from that of s-Al 2 O 3 was synthesized in [1, 2].Explosive synthesis of aluminum oxide [3] was conducted in a specially constructed 200 cm 3 vessel, made of 12Kh18N10T steel, of a small explosive calorimeter under vacuum. The residual air pressure was 3 -5 mm Hg. The initiator was a 0.1 g lead azide charge.In [6] iron aluminate FeAl 2 O 4 (hercynite) with a = 8.140(2) Å was synthesized under a shock wave acting with axisymmetric loading on gibbsite Al(OH) 3 placed in a steel storage ampul. Shock-wave loading was achieved by a sliding detonation wave from the explosion of a cast charge of trotyl-hexogen 40/60 with density 1.672 gm/cm 3 , placed in a steel shell. The detonation velocity was 8100 m/sec and the detonation pressure was 26 GPa.Initially, an ampul with the standard construction, which for axisymmetric shock-wave loading is placed along the axis of explosive charge, was used. Under the experimental conditions the ampul was destroyed by the explosion of Al 2 O 3 × 3H 2 O. The construction of the ampul was improved, and its walls were capable of withstanding an explosion of Al 2 O 3 × 3H 2 O without collapsing [6].Iron aluminate FeAl 2 O 4 was formed in [6], evidently, as a result of the interaction under high pressure and temperature of the products of decomposition of aluminum hydroxide with the steel wall of the ampul.