Two solid solutions, La
4Cu
3-xZn
xMoO
12 (0.05
x ![](/images/entities/le.gif)
0.20, SS1) and La
4Cu
3-xZn
xMoO
12 (0.30
x ![](/images/entities/le.gif)
2.40, SS2), were synthesized at ambient pressure and at temperatures from 1025 to 1200
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
C bytraditional solid-state reactions. Their structures were determined from X-ray powder diffraction with thehelp of electron and neutron diffraction. The atomic arrangements of SS1 and SS2 are similar, but theirspace groups are different,
Pmnm for SS1 and
P-1 for SS2, respectively. The copper, zinc, and molybdenumare coordinated by oxygen in corner-sharing trigonal bipyramids that are sandwiched between layers oflanthanum cations. In the transition metal cations layer of SS2, the copper and zinc cations order into aKagomé-like lattice of triangular clusters. The magnetism has been measured from 2 to 300 K and is highlyinfluenced by the geometric arrangement of the Cu
II and Zn
II cations. The number of free electrons perthree Cu atoms is close to one for all samples in SS1 and SS2 indicating that the system can be wellexpressed by independent Cu
II3 clusters. Spontaneous magnetization was observed in the system.