Crystal structure of a samarium(III) nitrate chain cross-linked by a bis-carbamoyl-methyl-phosphine oxide ligand.

In the title compound poly[aqua-bis-(μ-nitrato-κ(4) O,O':O,O'')tetra-kis-(nitrato-κ(2) O,O'){μ4-tetra-ethyl [(ethane-1,2-diyl)bis(aza-nedi-yl)bis-(2-oxo-ethane-2,1-di-yl)]di-phospho-nate-κ(2) O,O'}disamarium(III)], [Sm2(NO3)6(C14H30N2O8P2)(H2O)] n , a 12-coordinate Sm(III) and a nine-coordinate Sm(III) cation are alternately linked via shared bis-bidentate nitrate anions into a corrugated chain extending parallel to the a axis. The nine-coordinate Sm(III) atom of this chain is also chelated by a bidentate, yet flexible, carbamoyl-methyl-phoshine oxide (CMPO) ligand and bears one water mol-ecule. This water mol-ecule is hydrogen bonded to nitrate groups bonded to the 12-coordinate Sm(III) cation. The CMPO ligand, which lies about an inversion center, links neighboring chains along the c axis, forming sheets parallel to the ac plane. Hydrogen bonds between the amide NH group and metal-bound nitrate anions are also present in these sheets. The sheets are packed along the b axis through only van der Waals inter-actions.