Flux Growth of La₃MC₂ (<i>M</i> = Sb, Bi, Te), a New Family of Ternary Carbides

Reactions of carbon with a heavy main group metal ( M = Sb, Bi, or Te) in an excess of lanthanum/nickel eutectic flux lead to formation of a family of carbide compounds La 3 MC 2 with a new structure type. The monoclinic structure features C 2 4− anions octahedrally coordinated by six La 3+ cations, and M anions surrounded by 8 La 3+ cations. These compounds are not charge‐balanced and lie on the border between intermetallic carbides and mixed anion salts. Density of states calculations show a pseudogap at the Fermi level for La 3 BiC 2 , which indicates that this compound is a poor metal with optimized LaBi bonding interactions.