Ge 5 Sm, orthorhombic, Immm (no. 71), a =3.9805(7) Å, b =6.1522(9) Å, c =9.839(2) Å, V =240.9 Å 3 , Z =2, R gt(F) =0.093, wRref(I) =0.110, T =295 K. Source of material Samarium pentagermanide was synthesized by ah igh-pressure high-temperature reaction as earlier reported in [1] . The precursor mixture was prepared by arc melting of samarium (Techn. Büro Dr. G. Lamprecht, 99.9 %, sublimed) and germanium (Chempur, 99.9999+ %) in am ass ratio 1 .:.5. Precursor synthesis, sample loading and

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... recovery was performed in an argon atmosphere of aglove box (MBraun; H 2 O, O 2 <0.1 ppm). An X-ray powder diffraction pattern of the prereacted mixture evidenced the presence of SmGe 2 (tI12) [2] and unreacted Ge (cF8) [3] . High-pressure and high-temperature treatment at 10(1) GPa and 1123(100) Kwas realized in amulti-anvil press equipped with a Walker-type module [4] . The sample obtained by the highpressure experiment exhibits acomposition of SmGe 4.84(4) for the main phase according to EDXS measurements.