La(5)Zn(2)Sn.

A single crystal of penta-lanthanum dizinc stannide, La(5)Zn(2)Sn, was obtained from the elements in a resistance furnace. It belongs to the Mo(5)SiB(2) structure type, which is a ternary ordered variant of the Cr(5)B(3) structure type. The space is filled by bicapped tetra-gonal anti-prisms from lanthanum atoms around tin atoms sharing their vertices. Zinc atoms fill voids between these bicapped tetra-gonal anti-prisms. All four atoms in the asymmetric unit reside on special positions with the following site symmetries: La1 (..m); La2 (4/m..); Zn (m.2m); Sn (422).