Platinum-Germanium Ordering in the Germanides REPtGe with the Heavy Rare Earth Elements

The equiatomic germanides REPtGe with the heavy rare earth elements (RE) have been reinvestigated with respect to platinum-germanium ordering. The compounds were prepared by arc-melting of the elements followed by annealing for two weeks at 1070 K. The REPtGe germanides crystallize with the TiNiSi-type structure, space group Pnma. The structures of ErPtGe (a = 692.01(5), b = 432.03(4), c = 753.19(5) pm, wR2 = 0.0523, 435 F2, 20 variables) and the new germanide LuPtGe (a = 683.1(1), b = 429.2(1), c = 750.3(1) pm, wR2 = 0.0696, 358 F2, 20 variables) have been refined from single crystal diffractometer data. These structures exhibit three-dimensional [PtGe] networks with strong Pt–Ge intra(251 – 255 pm in LuPtGe) and weaker interlayer (272 pm in LuPtGe) interactions. The crystal chemical peculiarities of the whole REPtGe series are briefly discussed.