  Magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity and electrical resistivity
measurements have been carried out on a new ruthenate, La2RuO5 (monoclinic,
space group P21/c) which reveal that this compound is a magnetic semiconductor
with a high magnetic ordering temperature of 170K. The entropy associated with
the magnetic transition is 8.3 J/mole-K -close to that expected for the low
spin (S=1) state of Ru4+ ions. The low temperatures specific heat coefficient g
is found to be nearly zero consistent with the semiconducting nature of the
compound. The magnetic ordering temperature of La2RuO5 is comparable to the
highest known Curie temperature of another ruthenate, namely, metallic SrRuO3,
and in both these compounds the nominal charge state of Ru is 4+.
