Part 6

An improper rotation may be thought of as occurring in two parts, first a proper
rotation is performed, followed by an inversion through a particular point on the

rotation axis. In the H-M nomenclature, improper rotations are sometimes called
roto-inversions. In the Schönflies scheme, improper rotations are roto-reflection
axes because they are a rotation followed by a reflection perpendicular to the
rotation axis. Improper rotations are designated by the symbol n,
where n represents the type of proper rotation component of the operation. As in
the proper rotation operations, only 1 (i = S2), m = 2 (σ = S1), 3 (S6), 4 (S4),
and 6 (S3) improper rotations are commonly observed in crystals. These axes are
pronounced as 3 bar in the United States and bar 3 in many European countries.
Thus 3 in H-M is equivalent to S6 in Schönflies.
Note that it is not necessary for either the rotation operation or the inversion center
to exist as an operation of the group for the improper rotation axis to exist, e.g.
the 4 (S4) operation contains neither a 4-fold rotation axis (C4) nor an inversion
center.
 3 Roto-inversion. This operation involves a rotation by (360/3) ° followed

by an inversion through the center of the object. The symbol is a filled
triangle with an open circle in the middle. This is the only improper rotation
that also includes the proper rotation axis and an inversion center.
by an inversion through the center of the object. The symbol is an open 4-
sided diamond with an filled oval in the middle.
by an inversion through the center of the object. The symbol is an open
hexagon with an filled triangle inside.
A web site that illustrates the point groups based on molecular species is available
at: http://symmetry.otterbein.edu/gallery/. Note that this site uses JMOL software,
so Java must be activated on your web browser.
Stereographic Projections
Drawing the three-dimensional symmetry operations on a two-dimensional surface

such as this page has been a difficult problem. One way to overcome this problem
is through the use of a stereographic projection. Such figures are also effective in
describing the angular relations among the faces of a crystal.
To construct a stereographic projection, imagine that the object with a given

symmetry or surface is at the center of a sphere. Consider the sphere to have a
polar axis that is bisected by an equatorial plane. Project features of interest on the
object from the center, out to the surface of the sphere. Then project the points on
the surface of the sphere through the equatorial plane to the point where the polar
axis intersects the sphere in the opposite hemisphere. The stereographic projection
is then given by the equatorial plane and all intersections of the plane by the
projected points. If the projection point started in the northern hemisphere then its
projection onto the equatorial plane is represented as a plus. Points originating in
the southern hemisphere are denoted with a circle.Sometimes points generated by
improper symmetry operations are also denoted with a comma to indicate opposite
handedness.
The unit cell axis with highest symmetry is usually selected as the polar axis.
Rotation axes not in the equatorial plane are drawn with the symbol representing
the type of axis at the projection point on the equatorial plane. Rotation axes in the
equatorial plane are drawn outside of the projection terminating in arrows. Mirror
planes are drawn as thickened lines. Inversion centers are drawn as open circles in
the center of the polar axis.
Figure 8. Stereographic projection.13
E. J. W. Whittaker has prepared a more thorough discussion of Stereographic

Projections.
Crystallographic Point Groups
Symmetry operations can be combined to generate other symmetry operations.

When these operations are written mathematically, the operations are applied in a
right-to-left order. Thus in the expression below, the object x is operated on first by
C and then by B. The operation symbol * only indicates that some transformation
is being applied to the object.
A*x=B*C*x
These operations can be thus combined to form a group of symmetry operations.

These groups of operations are called point groups because the symmetry elements
of these operations all pass through a single point of the object. In the study of
groups, mathematicians have found that such groups always have the following
properties.
1. Identity One operation of the group must exist that when operated either before
or after any other group operation produces the same transformation as that of the
other group operation. Sometimes the identity operation is called the "do nothing"
operation. (A * E = E * A = A, E is the identity operation)
2. Inverse For each operation of the group there must exist a second operation that
when combined with the first operation produces the identity operation. The
inverse operation cancels the effect of any operation. The identity operation is also
its own inverse. (A * B = B * A = E, E is the identity, B is the inverse of A)
3. Associativity The order of combining the operations does not matter. [A * (B *

C) = (A * B) * C]
In addition to these properties, all crystallographic symmetry groups possess the

next property.
4. Closure When any two operations of the group are combined, then the resultant
operation must be a member of the group. (A = B * C, A, B, C are operations of
the group)
Finally, some groups also exhibit the property of commutativity. The order of
operations in commutative groups does not matter. (A * B = B * A)
When the proper and improper rotation operations described above are combined following the
rules of groups, they yield a total of 32 unique crystallographic point groups. These groups are listed
in the following table. The centrosymmetric point groups are shown in bold.
Table 3. Crystallographic Point Groups

System Essential Point
Symmetry Groups
Triclinic none 1, 1
Monoclinic 2 or m 2, m, 2/m
Orthorhombic 222 or mm2 * 222, mm2, mmm
Tetragonal 4 or 4 4, 422, 4, 4/m, 4mm, 42m, 4/mmm
Trigonal 3 or 3 3, 3, 32 †, 3m †, 3m2
Hexagonal 6 or 6 6, 622, 6, 6/m, 6mm, 62m, 6/mmm
Cubic 23 23, 2/m3, 432, 43m, 4/m32/m = m3m
* The symbol mm2 also represents the point groups 2mm and m2m.
† These point groups represent sets of groups, e.g., 32 represents 321 and 312
By convention the following rules have been adopted to describe point groups.
When a rotation axis is followed by a slash and an m, then this mirror is
perpendicular to the rotation axis. For orthorhombic systems the three characters
describe the symmetry along the three axes, a, b, and c, respectively. For
tetragonal, trigonal, and hexagonal type cells, the c axis is unique, and the first
symbol in the point group shows the symmetry along the unique axis. In tetragonal
systems, the second symbol shows the symmetry along the [100] and [010]
directions and the third symbol shows the symmetry along the [110] and [110]
directions. In trigonal and hexagonal cells, the second symbol shows the symmetry
along [100], [010] and [110], and the third symbol shows symmetry along [210],
[120], and [120]. In rhombohedral systems on rhombohedral axes, the first symbol
shows symmetry along [111], and the second symbol shows symmetry along [110],
[011], and [101]. Cubic symbols show [100], [010], [001] in the first symbol,
[111], [111], [111], [111] in the second symbol and [110], [110], [011], [011],
[101], and [101] in the third symbol.
The following examples demonstrate how stereographic projections can help

understand point groups.
Figure 9. Stereographic projection of 2-fold rotation axis.

The cross in the upper, right side of the drawing is assigned the coodinates (x, y, z), the
identity operation. If the 2-fold symmetry element is parallel with the b axis then the cross in
the lower, left side of the drawing is assigned the coordinates (-x, y, -z).
Figure 10. Stereographic projection of 2/m rotation.

In addition to the points in the previous figure, this projection shows a circle in the
lower left region with the coordinates (-x, -y, -z) that is a spot generated by the
inversion center. Note that the combination of the 2-fold rotation axis and the
inversion center leads to another operation--a mirror plane normal to the 2-fold.
The relative coordinates of a point related by the mirror in b are (x, -y, z). The
generation of a mirror by adding an inversion center to a 2-fold axis is an example
of the closure property of the group. The mirror is shown by the strong outer circle
of the projection.
The other point groups and their symmetry-related coordinates can be derived in a
similar manner to that shown above. All 32 crystallographic point groups are
shown in the stereographic projections below.

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An improper rotation may be thought of as occurring in two parts, first a proper

rotation is performed, followed by an inversion through a particular point on the

 3 Roto-inversion. This operation involves a rotation by (360/3) ° followed

Drawing the three-dimensional symmetry operations on a two-dimensional surface

To construct a stereographic projection, imagine that the object with a given

Figure 8. Stereographic projection.13

E. J. W. Whittaker has prepared a more thorough discussion of Stereographic

Crystallographic Point Groups

Symmetry operations can be combined to generate other symmetry operations.

These operations can be thus combined to form a group of symmetry operations.

3. Associativity The order of combining the operations does not matter. [A * (B *

In addition to these properties, all crystallographic symmetry groups possess the

Table 3. Crystallographic Point Groups

The following examples demonstrate how stereographic projections can help

Figure 9. Stereographic projection of 2-fold rotation axis.

Figure 10. Stereographic projection of 2/m rotation.

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