Hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of a new 1-D polymeric lanthanum ethylenediaminetetraacetate with less metal-aqua coordination: {[La(EDTA)(H2O)]2}n

A new lanthanum ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) coordination polymer, {[La(EDTA)(H2O)]2}n (EDTA3− = [(CH2N)2(CH2COOH)(CH2COO−)3]), was hydrothermally prepared from LaCl3 solution and ethylenediaminetetracetic acid at 448 K. The compound was characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, TG-DTA, and X-ray crystallography. The structure consists of ladder-like chains of [La(EDTA)(H2O)]2 dimers bridged by O–C–O groups. Hydrothermal method successfully reduced the high number of La-aqua coordinations in known lanthanum EDTA to one giving rise to relatively compact structure. It has high thermal stability up to 550 K. Every EDTA ligand with COOH group is involved in eight La–O(N) bonds to three nine-coordinated La centers.