Inorganic–organic hybrid structure: Synthesis, structure and magnetic properties of a cobalt phosphite–oxalate, [C4N2H12][Co4(HPO3)2(C2O4)3]

A hydrothermal reaction of a mixture of cobalt (II) oxalate, phosphorous acid, piperazine and water at 150 °C for 96 h followed by heating at 180 °C for 24 h gave rise to a new inorganic–organic hybrid solid, [C4N2H12][Co4(HPO3)2(C2O4)3], I. The structure consists of edge-shared CoO6 octahedra forming a [Co2O10] dimers that are connected by HPO3 and C2O4 units forming a three-dimensional structure with one-dimensional channels. The amine molecules are positioned within these channels. The oxalate units have a dual role of connecting within the plane of the layer as well as out of the plane. Magnetic susceptibility measurement shows the compound orders antiferromagnetically at low temperature (image). Crystal data: I, monoclinic, space group=P21/c (No. 14). image, image, image, image, image, image, image, image, image and image data image.