Mg2Zn crystallizes in the orthorhombic Cmcm space group. There are two inequivalent Mg sites. In the first Mg site, Mg(1) is bonded to two equivalent Mg(2) and six equivalent Zn(1) atoms to form a mixture of distorted edge, corner, and face-sharing MgMg2Zn6 cuboctahedra. In the second Mg site, Mg(2) is bonded in a 12-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Mg(1), six equivalent Mg(2), and four equivalent Zn(1) atoms. Zn(1) is bonded in a 10-coordinate geometry to four equivalent Mg(2) and six equivalent Mg(1) atoms.
Mg2Zn crystallizes in the orthorhombic Cmcm space group. There are two inequivalent Mg sites. In the first Mg site, Mg(1) is bonded to two equivalent Mg(2) and six equivalent Zn(1) atoms to form a mixture of distorted edge, corner, and face-sharing MgMg2Zn6 cuboctahedra. Both Mg(1)-Mg(2) bond lengths are 3.04 Å. There are two shorter (2.96 Å) and four longer (2.97 Å) Mg(1)-Zn(1) bond lengths. In the second Mg site, Mg(2) is bonded in a 12-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Mg(1), six equivalent Mg(2), and four equivalent Zn(1) atoms. There are four shorter (2.92 Å) and two longer (3.20 Å) Mg(2)-Mg(2) bond lengths. There are two shorter (2.83 Å) and two longer (3.04 Å) Mg(2)-Zn(1) bond lengths. Zn(1) is bonded in a 10-coordinate geometry to four equivalent Mg(2) and six equivalent Mg(1) atoms.