Synthesis and structural determination of a hexanuclear zirconium glycine compound formed in aqueous solution.

Single crystals of a zirconium-glycine compound have been first grown in aqueous solution via an excess acid and extra stabilizer approach. The crystal structure [Zr 6(OH (-)) 8(H 2O) 8(HGly) 4(Gly (-)) 4].(SO 4 (2-)) 6.14H 2O ( CP-1) has been characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure revealed that it is composed of hexa-zirconium octahedral clusters coordinated by eight carboxylic acid groups of glycine. The charge assignment is also consistent with the electronic structure calculations, and the computational result reveals that the Zr 6 core should have no skeleton electrons.