Rerefinement of poly[diaquabis(μ3-2-methylpropanoato-κ4 O:O,O′:O′)bis(μ3-2-methylpropanoato-κ3 O:O:O)(μ2-2-methylpropanoato-κ3 O:O,O′)(2-methylpropanoato-κ2 O,O′)trilead(II)]

The crystal structure of the title complex, [Pb3(C4H7O2)6(H2O)2]n, was redetermined on basis of modern CCD-based single-crystal X-ray data at 120 K. The current study basically confirms the previous report [Fallon et al. (1997). Polyhedron, 16, 19–23] at 190 K, but with higher accuracy and precision. In particular, positional disorder of one of the 2-methyl­propano­ate anions over two sets of sites was resolved, showing a refined ratio of the disorder components of 0.535 (9):0.465 (9). The three independent cations in the structure have coordination numbers of [7 + 1], [6 + 1], and [5 + 3], with O atoms belonging either to carboxyl­ate groups or water mol­ecules. This arrangement leads to the formation of sheets parallel to (\overline{1}01), whereby the hydro­phobic 2-methyl­propanyl groups of the anions are oriented above and below the hydro­philic sheets to form a layered structure. Within a sheet, hydrogen bonds of the type Owater—H⋯O are formed, whereas the hydro­phobic groups between adjacent layers inter­act through van der Waals forces.