Mg3Ga is alpha bismuth trifluoride structured and crystallizes in the cubic Fm-3m space group. There are two inequivalent Mg sites. In the first Mg site, Mg(1) is bonded in a body-centered cubic geometry to eight equivalent Mg(2) atoms. In the second Mg site, Mg(2) is bonded to four equivalent Mg(1) and four equivalent Ga(1) atoms to form a mixture of distorted face, corner, and edge-sharing MgMg4Ga4 tetrahedra. Ga(1) is bonded in a body-centered cubic geometry to eight equivalent Mg(2) atoms.
Mg3Ga is alpha bismuth trifluoride structured and crystallizes in the cubic Fm-3m space group. There are two inequivalent Mg sites. In the first Mg site, Mg(1) is bonded in a body-centered cubic geometry to eight equivalent Mg(2) atoms. All Mg(1)-Mg(2) bond lengths are 3.02 Å. In the second Mg site, Mg(2) is bonded to four equivalent Mg(1) and four equivalent Ga(1) atoms to form a mixture of distorted face, corner, and edge-sharing MgMg4Ga4 tetrahedra. All Mg(2)-Ga(1) bond lengths are 3.02 Å. Ga(1) is bonded in a body-centered cubic geometry to eight equivalent Mg(2) atoms.