Lu5Ge4 crystallizes in the orthorhombic Pnma space group. There are three inequivalent Lu sites. In the first Lu site, Lu(1) is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to one Ge(3), two equivalent Ge(2), and three equivalent Ge(1) atoms. In the second Lu site, Lu(2) is bonded in a 7-coordinate geometry to one Ge(2), two equivalent Ge(3), and four equivalent Ge(1) atoms. In the third Lu site, Lu(3) is bonded to two equivalent Ge(1), two equivalent Ge(2), and two equivalent Ge(3) atoms to form corner-sharing LuGe6 octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 50-53°. There are three inequivalent Ge sites. In the first Ge site, Ge(3) is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Lu(1), two equivalent Lu(3), four equivalent Lu(2), and one Ge(2) atom. In the second Ge site, Ge(1) is bonded in a 8-coordinate geometry to one Lu(3), three equivalent Lu(1), and four equivalent Lu(2) atoms. In the third Ge site, Ge(2) is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Lu(2), two equivalent Lu(3), four equivalent Lu(1), and one Ge(3) atom.
Lu5Ge4 crystallizes in the orthorhombic Pnma space group. There are three inequivalent Lu sites. In the first Lu site, Lu(1) is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to one Ge(3), two equivalent Ge(2), and three equivalent Ge(1) atoms. The Lu(1)-Ge(3) bond length is 2.94 Å. There is one shorter (2.88 Å) and one longer (2.90 Å) Lu(1)-Ge(2) bond length. There are a spread of Lu(1)-Ge(1) bond distances ranging from 2.77-2.89 Å. In the second Lu site, Lu(2) is bonded in a 7-coordinate geometry to one Ge(2), two equivalent Ge(3), and four equivalent Ge(1) atoms. The Lu(2)-Ge(2) bond length is 3.09 Å. There is one shorter (2.89 Å) and one longer (3.12 Å) Lu(2)-Ge(3) bond length. There are a spread of Lu(2)-Ge(1) bond distances ranging from 2.89-3.45 Å. In the third Lu site, Lu(3) is bonded to two equivalent Ge(1), two equivalent Ge(2), and two equivalent Ge(3) atoms to form corner-sharing LuGe6 octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 50-53°. Both Lu(3)-Ge(1) bond lengths are 2.94 Å. There is one shorter (2.83 Å) and one longer (3.00 Å) Lu(3)-Ge(2) bond length. There is one shorter (2.84 Å) and one longer (2.97 Å) Lu(3)-Ge(3) bond length. There are three inequivalent Ge sites. In the first Ge site, Ge(3) is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Lu(1), two equivalent Lu(3), four equivalent Lu(2), and one Ge(2) atom. The Ge(3)-Ge(2) bond length is 2.73 Å. In the second Ge site, Ge(1) is bonded in a 8-coordinate geometry to one Lu(3), three equivalent Lu(1), and four equivalent Lu(2) atoms. In the third Ge site, Ge(2) is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Lu(2), two equivalent Lu(3), four equivalent Lu(1), and one Ge(3) atom.