Laves phases are an interesting field of research when it comes
to structural chemistry and physical properties. Investigations of
the ternary system Zr–V Al showed, in contrast to the system
Hf–V Al, that no superstructures can be observed within the
solid solution Zr(V1–xAlx)2. High values of x form aluminum rich
phases that adopt the hexagonal MgZn2 type structure while
low values of x lead to vanadium rich phases that adopt the
cubic MgCu2 type. All samples were investigated by powder Xray diffraction experiments. Single crystal studies indicated that
no superstructure formation is present in the investigated
samples. 27Al MAS NMR investigations confirmed these findings.
For ZrAl2, quantum-chemical calculations helped with the
analysis of the 27Al NMR spectrum of the binary endmember of
the solid solution. Some of the prepared samples were
investigated with respect to their magnetic properties. The
investigated compounds show Pauli-paramagnetism, in
Zr(V0.875Al0.125)2 in addition superconductivity with a critical
temperature of TC=4.17(1) K was observed. Investigations of
compositions that do not belong to the Laves phase regime
clearly indicate that the MgZn2 type structure is still the
dominant phase. Regardless of the starting composition chosen,
the hexagonal Laves phase was mostly present
