A series of lanthanide
coordination polymers [LnL(H
2
O)
2
]
n
[Ln = Pr (
1
), Nd (
2
),
Sm (
3
), Eu (
4
),
and Gd (
5
), H
3
L =
N
-(4-carboxy-benzyl)iminodiacetic
acid] was hydrothermally prepared and structurally characterized.
All the five compounds have been confirmed as 3D Ln-CPs with one-dimensional
helical tunnels composed of four helical chains, although there are
different coordination geometries around Ln
3+
. Enantiomeric
helixes in
1–3
, and absolute left-handed and right-handed
helical chains in
4
and
5
, respectively,
lead to different tunnel spaces. Their conformations can also be featured
by different space groups and unit cell dimensions. Photoluminescence
measurement on
3
and
4
show characteristic
emission peaks of Sm
3+
and Eu
3+
ions, respectively.
The low-temperature heat capacity of
1–4
has been
investigated in the temperature range of 1.9–300 K. Their heat
capacity values are nearly equal below 10 K and display a crossover
with the value order
C
p,m
(
2)
>
C
p,m
(
1)
≈
C
p,m
(
4)
>
C
p,m
(
3)
above 10 K. The measured heat capacities
have been fitted, and the corresponding thermodynamic functions were
consequently calculated based on the fitting parameters. The standard
molar entropies at 298.15 K have been determined to be (415.71 ±
4.16), (451.32 ± 4.51), (308.53 ± 3.09), and (407.62 ±
4.08) J·mol
–1
·K
–1
for
1
,
2
,
3
, and
4
, respectively.