La8C8Cl5 crystallizes in the monoclinic P2_1/c space group. There are four inequivalent La sites. In the first La site, La(1) is bonded in a 7-coordinate geometry to one C(1), one C(2), two equivalent C(4), one Cl(1), one Cl(2), and one Cl(3) atom. In the second La site, La(2) is bonded in a 8-coordinate geometry to one C(1), two equivalent C(2), two equivalent C(3), one Cl(1), one Cl(2), and one Cl(3) atom. In the third La site, La(3) is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to one C(2), one C(3), two equivalent C(1), two equivalent C(4), one Cl(1), and two equivalent Cl(2) atoms. In the fourth La site, La(4) is bonded in a 8-coordinate geometry to one C(1), one C(2), one C(4), two equivalent C(3), one Cl(3), and two equivalent Cl(1) atoms. There are four inequivalent C sites. In the first C site, C(1) is bonded to one La(1), one La(2), one La(4), two equivalent La(3), and one C(4) atom to form distorted CLa5C octahedra that share  a cornercorner with one Cl(3)La6 octahedra, corners with two equivalent C(1)La5C octahedra, corners with four equivalent Cl(1)La5 trigonal bipyramids,  an edgeedge with one Cl(3)La6 octahedra, and  an edgeedge with one Cl(1)La5 trigonal bipyramid. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 19-67°. In the second C site, C(2) is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to one La(1), one La(3), one La(4), two equivalent La(2), and one C(3) atom. In the third C site, C(3) is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to one La(3), two equivalent La(2), two equivalent La(4), and one C(2) atom. In the fourth C site, C(4) is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to one La(4), two equivalent La(1), two equivalent La(3), and one C(1) atom. There are three inequivalent Cl sites. In the first Cl site, Cl(1) is bonded to one La(1), one La(2), one La(3), and two equivalent La(4) atoms to form distorted ClLa5 trigonal bipyramids that share corners with four equivalent C(1)La5C octahedra,  an edgeedge with one C(1)La5C octahedra, edges with two equivalent Cl(3)La6 octahedra, and  an edgeedge with one Cl(1)La5 trigonal bipyramid. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 13-59°. In the second Cl site, Cl(2) is bonded in a distorted rectangular see-saw-like geometry to one La(1), one La(2), and two equivalent La(3) atoms. In the third Cl site, Cl(3) is bonded to two equivalent La(1), two equivalent La(2), and two equivalent La(4) atoms to form distorted ClLa6 octahedra that share corners with two equivalent C(1)La5C octahedra, edges with two equivalent C(1)La5C octahedra, and edges with four equivalent Cl(1)La5 trigonal bipyramids. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles are 19°.
La8C8Cl5 crystallizes in the monoclinic P2_1/c space group. There are four inequivalent La sites. In the first La site, La(1) is bonded in a 7-coordinate geometry to one C(1), one C(2), two equivalent C(4), one Cl(1), one Cl(2), and one Cl(3) atom. The La(1)-C(1) bond length is 2.69 Å. The La(1)-C(2) bond length is 2.45 Å. There is one shorter (2.44 Å) and one longer (2.75 Å) La(1)-C(4) bond length. The La(1)-Cl(1) bond length is 3.25 Å. The La(1)-Cl(2) bond length is 3.10 Å. The La(1)-Cl(3) bond length is 3.57 Å. In the second La site, La(2) is bonded in a 8-coordinate geometry to one C(1), two equivalent C(2), two equivalent C(3), one Cl(1), one Cl(2), and one Cl(3) atom. The La(2)-C(1) bond length is 2.44 Å. There is one shorter (2.70 Å) and one longer (2.83 Å) La(2)-C(2) bond length. There is one shorter (2.69 Å) and one longer (2.78 Å) La(2)-C(3) bond length. The La(2)-Cl(1) bond length is 3.04 Å. The La(2)-Cl(2) bond length is 2.97 Å. The La(2)-Cl(3) bond length is 3.24 Å. In the third La site, La(3) is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to one C(2), one C(3), two equivalent C(1), two equivalent C(4), one Cl(1), and two equivalent Cl(2) atoms. The La(3)-C(2) bond length is 2.69 Å. The La(3)-C(3) bond length is 2.84 Å. There is one shorter (2.72 Å) and one longer (2.86 Å) La(3)-C(1) bond length. There is one shorter (2.64 Å) and one longer (2.80 Å) La(3)-C(4) bond length. The La(3)-Cl(1) bond length is 3.29 Å. There is one shorter (2.99 Å) and one longer (3.06 Å) La(3)-Cl(2) bond length. In the fourth La site, La(4) is bonded in a 8-coordinate geometry to one C(1), one C(2), one C(4), two equivalent C(3), one Cl(3), and two equivalent Cl(1) atoms. The La(4)-C(1) bond length is 2.72 Å. The La(4)-C(2) bond length is 2.75 Å. The La(4)-C(4) bond length is 3.02 Å. There is one shorter (2.43 Å) and one longer (2.66 Å) La(4)-C(3) bond length. The La(4)-Cl(3) bond length is 3.09 Å. There is one shorter (3.09 Å) and one longer (3.30 Å) La(4)-Cl(1) bond length. There are four inequivalent C sites. In the first C site, C(1) is bonded to one La(1), one La(2), one La(4), two equivalent La(3), and one C(4) atom to form distorted CLa5C octahedra that share  a cornercorner with one Cl(3)La6 octahedra, corners with two equivalent C(1)La5C octahedra, corners with four equivalent Cl(1)La5 trigonal bipyramids,  an edgeedge with one Cl(3)La6 octahedra, and  an edgeedge with one Cl(1)La5 trigonal bipyramid. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 19-67°. The C(1)-C(4) bond length is 1.35 Å. In the second C site, C(2) is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to one La(1), one La(3), one La(4), two equivalent La(2), and one C(3) atom. The C(2)-C(3) bond length is 1.35 Å. In the third C site, C(3) is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to one La(3), two equivalent La(2), two equivalent La(4), and one C(2) atom. In the fourth C site, C(4) is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to one La(4), two equivalent La(1), two equivalent La(3), and one C(1) atom. There are three inequivalent Cl sites. In the first Cl site, Cl(1) is bonded to one La(1), one La(2), one La(3), and two equivalent La(4) atoms to form distorted ClLa5 trigonal bipyramids that share corners with four equivalent C(1)La5C octahedra,  an edgeedge with one C(1)La5C octahedra, edges with two equivalent Cl(3)La6 octahedra, and  an edgeedge with one Cl(1)La5 trigonal bipyramid. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 13-59°. In the second Cl site, Cl(2) is bonded in a distorted rectangular see-saw-like geometry to one La(1), one La(2), and two equivalent La(3) atoms. In the third Cl site, Cl(3) is bonded to two equivalent La(1), two equivalent La(2), and two equivalent La(4) atoms to form distorted ClLa6 octahedra that share corners with two equivalent C(1)La5C octahedra, edges with two equivalent C(1)La5C octahedra, and edges with four equivalent Cl(1)La5 trigonal bipyramids. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles are 19°.