Solvothermal synthesis, crystal structure and properties of three new 1D and 3D organically templated lanthanide sulfates

Three new organic amine templated lanthanide sulfates [(CH3)2NH2]3[Y(SO4)3]·H2O 1 and [(CH3)2NH2]9[Ln5(SO4)12]·2H2O (Ln = La 2 and Ce 3) have been solvothermally synthesized under similar conditions and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compound 1 exhibits 1D anionic chain structure compensated by protonated dimethylamine occluded in the helical [Y–O–S]n chains, while the 3D inorganic frameworks of 2 and 3 contain extra-large 20-membered ring channels. The syntheses of three compounds demonstrates that although yttrium and lanthanide belong to one family, the self-assembly of yttrium sulfate may be different from other rare-earth sulfates because Y is much lighter. The formation of 1–3 also demonstrates that the solvent plays an important role during the synthesis.