Sm5Ge4 crystallizes in the orthorhombic Pnma space group. There are three inequivalent Sm sites. In the first Sm site, Sm(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 Sm site, Sm(2) is bonded to one Ge(2), two equivalent Ge(3), and three equivalent Ge(1) atoms to form a mixture of distorted face, corner, and edge-sharing SmGe6 pentagonal pyramids. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 41-44°. In the third Sm site, Sm(3) is bonded to two equivalent Ge(1), two equivalent Ge(2), and two equivalent Ge(3) atoms to form a mixture of face and corner-sharing SmGe6 octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 54-56°. There are three inequivalent Ge sites. In the first Ge site, Ge(3) is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Sm(1), two equivalent Sm(3), four equivalent Sm(2), and one Ge(2) atom. In the second Ge site, Ge(1) is bonded in a 7-coordinate geometry to one Sm(3), three equivalent Sm(1), and three equivalent Sm(2) atoms. In the third Ge site, Ge(2) is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Sm(2), two equivalent Sm(3), four equivalent Sm(1), and one Ge(3) atom.
Sm5Ge4 crystallizes in the orthorhombic Pnma space group. There are three inequivalent Sm sites. In the first Sm site, Sm(1) is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to one Ge(3), two equivalent Ge(2), and three equivalent Ge(1) atoms. The Sm(1)-Ge(3) bond length is 3.11 Å. There is one shorter (3.09 Å) and one longer (3.16 Å) Sm(1)-Ge(2) bond length. There are a spread of Sm(1)-Ge(1) bond distances ranging from 2.96-3.05 Å. In the second Sm site, Sm(2) is bonded to one Ge(2), two equivalent Ge(3), and three equivalent Ge(1) atoms to form a mixture of distorted face, corner, and edge-sharing SmGe6 pentagonal pyramids. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 41-44°. The Sm(2)-Ge(2) bond length is 3.18 Å. There is one shorter (3.10 Å) and one longer (3.22 Å) Sm(2)-Ge(3) bond length. There are a spread of Sm(2)-Ge(1) bond distances ranging from 3.02-3.27 Å. In the third Sm site, Sm(3) is bonded to two equivalent Ge(1), two equivalent Ge(2), and two equivalent Ge(3) atoms to form a mixture of face and corner-sharing SmGe6 octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 54-56°. Both Sm(3)-Ge(1) bond lengths are 3.06 Å. There is one shorter (3.07 Å) and one longer (3.19 Å) Sm(3)-Ge(2) bond length. There is one shorter (3.08 Å) and one longer (3.19 Å) Sm(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 Sm(1), two equivalent Sm(3), four equivalent Sm(2), and one Ge(2) atom. The Ge(3)-Ge(2) bond length is 2.69 Å. In the second Ge site, Ge(1) is bonded in a 7-coordinate geometry to one Sm(3), three equivalent Sm(1), and three equivalent Sm(2) atoms. In the third Ge site, Ge(2) is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Sm(2), two equivalent Sm(3), four equivalent Sm(1), and one Ge(3) atom.