Source of materialThepHofamixture of Lu(NO 3 ) 3 ·xH 2 O(0.05 mmol)(prepared from Lu 2 O 3 (0.0187 g, 0.05 mmol) dissolved in 5.0 mL (3M) HNO 3 solution )and pyridine-2,4,6-tricarboxylicacid (0.0215 g, 0.1 mmol) in 30 mL H 2 Ow as adjusted to 6.32 by addition of NaOH under vigorous stirring. The resulting mixture was continuously stirred for ca.1hand asmall indiscerptible substance was then filtered off. The colourless filtrate was allowed to stand at room temperature and slow evaporation for two months afforded colourless block-like crystal suitable for X-ray diffraction.
Experimental detailsAll Hatomsbound to Cwere position geometrically and refined as riding, with C-H =0.93 Åand U iso (H) =1.2U eq (C).
DiscussionThe design and construction of lanthanide complexes with multicarboxylate ligands have received extensive attention due to their unique topological structures and fascinating chemical or physical properties [1][2][3]. Recent studies concerning the use of pyridine-2,4,6-tricarboxylic acid (H 3 ptc) as aligandtoward rareearth metal salts have shown that agreat variety of structures can be obtainedasaresultofthe differentconformation andcoordination modes of the ptc 3-ligand [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. As an ongoing part of our investigations, we report the preparation and X-ray crystal structure of the title compound. The asymmetric unit of title compound consists of two Lu 3+ ions (namely Lu1 and Lu2),two ptc 3-ions (namely ptc1 and ptc2, which contain N1 and N2 atoms, respectively), nine aqua ligand and three lattice water molecules. The Lu1atoms arecoordinated by four aqua ligands, oneptc1 3-and oneptc2 3-ligand to generate adistorted 4,4'-bicapped triagonal antiprism.The Lu2 atomsare in adistorted mono-cappedsquare antiprismatic [LuNO 8 ]c oordination defined by five water ligands, three carboxylate atomsa nd one nitrogen atom from two different ptc 3-ligands. The ptc1 3-ion has a m 2 h 4 coordination mode and is bonded to one Lu1 atom through the pyridyl N1 atom and the oxygen atomsO 1, O2, bridges to one Lu2 atom. The ptc2 3-ion also acts as a m 2 h 4 bridging ligand to chelateone Lu2 throught he pyridyl N2 atom and the carboxylate group in 2-position, and it coordinates one Lu1 atom through the 4-position carboxylate group. The Lu1 atom and Lu2 atomsare linked by the 2-position carboxylato-group of ptc1 to form adinuclear molecule. The resulting dinuclear units are pairwise bridged by the ptc ligand to generate centrosymmetric tetranuclear molecule Lu 4 (H 2 O) 18 (ptc) 4 .T he resulting tetranuclear unit area ssembled into 3D supramolecular chainvia hydrogen bondinginteraction betweenaqualigands with carboxylateoxygenatoms and lattice molecules.