High-throughput and microwave investigation of rare earth phosphonatoethanesulfonates—Ln(O3P–C2H4–SO3) (Ln=Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Y)

Following the strategy of using bifunctional phosphonic acids for the synthesis of new metal phosphonates, the flexible ligand 2-phosphonoethanesulfonic acid, H2O3P–C2H4–SO3H (H3L), was used in a high-throughput (HT) and microwave investigation of rare earth phosphonatoethanesulfonates. The HT-investigation led to six isotypic compounds Ln(O3P–C2H4–SO3) with Ln=Ho (1), Er (2), Tm (3), Yb (4), Lu (5) and Y (6). The syntheses were scaled-up in glass reactor tubes in order to obtain larger amounts for a detailed characterization. Based on these results all compounds could be also synthesized by microwave-assisted heating and the influence of reaction time and stirring rate during the synthesis was established. For compound 2 the crystal structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The compounds contain isolated slightly distorted LnO6 octahedra that are connected by the phosphonate and sulfonate groups into a three-dimensional framework. Thermogravimetric investigations demonstrate the high thermal stability of the compounds up to 460 °C.