Tm2.22Co6Sn20 and TmLi2Co6Sn20 stannides as disordered derivatives of the Cr23C6 structure type

A new ternary dithulium hexacobalt icosastannide, Tm2.22Co6Sn20, and a new quaternary thulium dilithium hexacobalt icosastannide, TmLi2Co6Sn20, crystallize as disordered variants of the binary cubic Cr23C6 structure type (cF116). 48 Sn atoms occupy sites of m.m2 symmetry, 32 Sn atoms sites of .3m symmetry, 24 Co atoms sites of 4m.m symmetry, eight Li (or Tm in the case of the ternary phase) atoms sites of -3 symmetry and four Tm atoms sites of m3m symmetry. The environment of one Tm atom is an 18-vertex polyhedron and that of the second Tm (or Li) atom is a 16-vertex polyhedron. Tetragonal antiprismatic coordination is observed for the Co atoms. Two Sn atoms are enclosed in a heavily deformed bicapped hexagonal prism and a monocapped hexagonal prism, respectively, and the environment of the third Sn atom is a 12-vertex polyhedron. The electronic structures of both title compounds were calculated using the tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbital method in the atomic spheres approximation (TB-LMTO-ASA). Metallic bonding is dominant in these compounds, but the presence of Sn-Sn covalent dumbbells is also observed.