La2Te3 crystallizes in the tetragonal I-42d space group. There are three inequivalent La sites. In the first La site, La(1) is bonded to two equivalent Te(2), three equivalent Te(1), and three equivalent Te(3) atoms to form a mixture of distorted edge, corner, and face-sharing LaTe8 hexagonal bipyramids. In the second La site, La(2) is bonded to two equivalent Te(2), two equivalent Te(3), and four equivalent Te(1) atoms to form a mixture of distorted edge, corner, and face-sharing LaTe8 hexagonal bipyramids. In the third La site, La(3) is bonded to two equivalent Te(1), two equivalent Te(3), and four equivalent Te(2) atoms to form a mixture of distorted edge, corner, and face-sharing LaTe8 hexagonal bipyramids. There are three inequivalent Te sites. In the first Te site, Te(1) is bonded to one La(3), two equivalent La(2), and three equivalent La(1) atoms to form distorted TeLa6 octahedra that share corners with three equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra, corners with five equivalent Te(2)La5 square pyramids, corners with seven equivalent Te(3)La5 square pyramids, edges with two equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra,  an edgeedge with one Te(3)La5 square pyramid, edges with three equivalent Te(2)La5 square pyramids, faces with two equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra,  a faceface with one Te(2)La5 square pyramid, and faces with two equivalent Te(3)La5 square pyramids. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 16-50°. In the second Te site, Te(2) is bonded to one La(2), two equivalent La(1), and two equivalent La(3) atoms to form TeLa5 square pyramids that share corners with five equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra, corners with four equivalent Te(2)La5 square pyramids, corners with four equivalent Te(3)La5 square pyramids, edges with three equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra,  an edgeedge with one Te(2)La5 square pyramid, edges with four equivalent Te(3)La5 square pyramids,  a faceface with one Te(1)La6 octahedra, and  a faceface with one Te(2)La5 square pyramid. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 21-49°. In the third Te site, Te(3) is bonded to one La(2), one La(3), and three equivalent La(1) atoms to form distorted TeLa5 square pyramids that share corners with seven equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra, corners with four equivalent Te(2)La5 square pyramids, corners with five equivalent Te(3)La5 square pyramids,  an edgeedge with one Te(1)La6 octahedra, edges with four equivalent Te(2)La5 square pyramids, faces with two equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra, and  a faceface with one Te(3)La5 square pyramid. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 15-53°.
La2Te3 crystallizes in the tetragonal I-42d space group. There are three inequivalent La sites. In the first La site, La(1) is bonded to two equivalent Te(2), three equivalent Te(1), and three equivalent Te(3) atoms to form a mixture of distorted edge, corner, and face-sharing LaTe8 hexagonal bipyramids. There is one shorter (3.22 Å) and one longer (3.46 Å) La(1)-Te(2) bond length. There are a spread of La(1)-Te(1) bond distances ranging from 3.27-3.56 Å. There are a spread of La(1)-Te(3) bond distances ranging from 3.24-3.45 Å. In the second La site, La(2) is bonded to two equivalent Te(2), two equivalent Te(3), and four equivalent Te(1) atoms to form a mixture of distorted edge, corner, and face-sharing LaTe8 hexagonal bipyramids. Both La(2)-Te(2) bond lengths are 3.25 Å. Both La(2)-Te(3) bond lengths are 3.44 Å. There are two shorter (3.27 Å) and two longer (3.45 Å) La(2)-Te(1) bond lengths. In the third La site, La(3) is bonded to two equivalent Te(1), two equivalent Te(3), and four equivalent Te(2) atoms to form a mixture of distorted edge, corner, and face-sharing LaTe8 hexagonal bipyramids. Both La(3)-Te(1) bond lengths are 3.51 Å. Both La(3)-Te(3) bond lengths are 3.29 Å. There are two shorter (3.25 Å) and two longer (3.43 Å) La(3)-Te(2) bond lengths. There are three inequivalent Te sites. In the first Te site, Te(1) is bonded to one La(3), two equivalent La(2), and three equivalent La(1) atoms to form distorted TeLa6 octahedra that share corners with three equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra, corners with five equivalent Te(2)La5 square pyramids, corners with seven equivalent Te(3)La5 square pyramids, edges with two equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra,  an edgeedge with one Te(3)La5 square pyramid, edges with three equivalent Te(2)La5 square pyramids, faces with two equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra,  a faceface with one Te(2)La5 square pyramid, and faces with two equivalent Te(3)La5 square pyramids. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 16-50°. In the second Te site, Te(2) is bonded to one La(2), two equivalent La(1), and two equivalent La(3) atoms to form TeLa5 square pyramids that share corners with five equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra, corners with four equivalent Te(2)La5 square pyramids, corners with four equivalent Te(3)La5 square pyramids, edges with three equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra,  an edgeedge with one Te(2)La5 square pyramid, edges with four equivalent Te(3)La5 square pyramids,  a faceface with one Te(1)La6 octahedra, and  a faceface with one Te(2)La5 square pyramid. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 21-49°. In the third Te site, Te(3) is bonded to one La(2), one La(3), and three equivalent La(1) atoms to form distorted TeLa5 square pyramids that share corners with seven equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra, corners with four equivalent Te(2)La5 square pyramids, corners with five equivalent Te(3)La5 square pyramids,  an edgeedge with one Te(1)La6 octahedra, edges with four equivalent Te(2)La5 square pyramids, faces with two equivalent Te(1)La6 octahedra, and  a faceface with one Te(3)La5 square pyramid. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 15-53°.