Mg2MnGa3 – An orthorhombically distorted superstructure variant of the hexagonal Laves phase MgZn2

Abstract

Abstract The Laves phase Mg2MnGa3 was synthesized from the elements by arc-melting and subsequent annealing in a silica ampoule at T = 670 K. The structure of Mg2MnGa3 was refined from single-crystal X-ray diffractometer data: URe2 type, Cmcm, a = 543.24(1), b = 869.59(3), c = 858.58(2) pm, wR2 = 0.0556, 273 F 2 values and 24 variables. The manganese and gallium atoms form a three-dimensional network of corner- and face-sharing MnGa3 tetrahedra that derive as a ternary ordering variant from the hexagonal Laves phase MgZn2. The structures of the distortion and coloring variants, i.e., MgZn2, URe2, Mg2Cu3Si and Mg2MnGa3 are discussed on the basis of a Bärnighausen tree. The electronic structure calculation data indicate that in addition to the metallic type of bonding an additional covalent interaction appears between the Ga–Ga and Mn–Ga atoms.