The subvalent nitridometalate Ba 6 [(Mo 1-x Ta x )N 4 ]N 0.86 was prepared from mixtures of Mo powder with Ba, Na, and Ba 2 N at 600°C in Ta ampoules. It crystallizes in space group Cmcm with a = 11.672(3), b = 10.177(2) and c = 10.8729(19) Å. Its crystal structure exhibits an orthorhombically distorted Perovskite topology with [Ba 6 N] building units forming the ReO 3 -type lattice via common vertices, and the nitridometalate anions occupying half of the available distorted cuboctahedral interstices. [MN 4 ] anions show statistically