Yb(Mo3Se4)2 crystallizes in the trigonal R-3 space group. Yb(1) is bonded in a body-centered cubic geometry to two equivalent Se(1) and six equivalent Se(2) atoms. Mo(1) is bonded to one Se(1) and four equivalent Se(2) atoms to form a mixture of distorted edge and corner-sharing MoSe5 square pyramids. There are two inequivalent Se sites. In the first Se site, Se(1) is bonded in a 4-coordinate geometry to one Yb(1) and three equivalent Mo(1) atoms. In the second Se site, Se(2) is bonded in a 5-coordinate geometry to one Yb(1) and four equivalent Mo(1) atoms.
Yb(Mo3Se4)2 crystallizes in the trigonal R-3 space group. Yb(1) is bonded in a body-centered cubic geometry to two equivalent Se(1) and six equivalent Se(2) atoms. Both Yb(1)-Se(1) bond lengths are 2.87 Å. All Yb(1)-Se(2) bond lengths are 3.17 Å. Mo(1) is bonded to one Se(1) and four equivalent Se(2) atoms to form a mixture of distorted edge and corner-sharing MoSe5 square pyramids. The Mo(1)-Se(1) bond length is 2.53 Å. There are a spread of Mo(1)-Se(2) bond distances ranging from 2.59-2.77 Å. There are two inequivalent Se sites. In the first Se site, Se(1) is bonded in a 4-coordinate geometry to one Yb(1) and three equivalent Mo(1) atoms. In the second Se site, Se(2) is bonded in a 5-coordinate geometry to one Yb(1) and four equivalent Mo(1) atoms.