Synthesis and crystal structure determination of the new intermetallic phase Li13Cu6Ga21

Li₁₃Cu₆Ga₂₁ crystallizes in a cubic structure, space group Im3, with a = 13.568(2) Å, Z = 4. Diffraction data were collected on a NONIUS CAD 4 diffractometer in the range 4 ≤ 2θ ≤ 50° (MoKα radiation). The structure was solved by direct methods and refined by full-matrix least-squares to a final R(F) = 0.033 for 346 independent reflections with I> 3σ(I). Li₁₃Cu₆Ga₂₁ presents an interesting structure composed of Samson's polyhedral clusters (104 atoms) linked to each other through smaller junction polyhedral clusters (truncated tetrahedra and hypho-13-vertex polyhedra) containing lithium atoms in their centers.