Crystal and Electronic Structure of Y₅Al₃C₄

Abstract

The novel ternary aluminum carbide Y 5 Al 3 C 4 was synthesized using lithium metal as flux at high temperature (1523 K). Singlecrystal structure determination of the title compound revealed a new structure type with the Wyckoff-sequence jhg2da. Y 5 Al 3 C 4 crystallizes in the tetragonal space group P4/mbm (no. 127) with Z = 2 and lattice parameters a = 10.8442(11) and c = 3.5234(4) Å. The compound has metallic appearance and shows remarkable structural features at the