Solvothermal synthesis, crystal structure and properties of three new 1D and 3D organically templated lanthanide sulfates

Abstract Three new organic amine templated lanthanide sulfates [(CH 3 ) 2 NH 2 ] 3 [Y(SO 4 ) 3 ]·H 2 O 1 and [(CH 3 ) 2 NH 2 ] 9 [Ln 5 (SO 4 ) 12 ]·2H 2 O (Ln = La 2 and Ce 3 ) have been solvothermally synthesized under similar conditions and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compound 1 exhibits 1D anionic chain structure compensated by protonated dimethylamine occluded in the helical [Y–O–S] n chains, while the 3D inorganic frameworks of 2 and 3 contain extra-large 20-membered ring channels. The syntheses of three compounds demonstrates that although yttrium and lanthanide belong to one family, the self-assembly of yttrium sulfate may be different from other rare-earth sulfates because Y is much lighter. The formation of 1 – 3 also demonstrates that the solvent plays an important role during the synthesis.