Synthesis, Crystal Structure and Thermal Behavior of a 3-D Barium(II)/Iron(III)-Oxalate Polymer

Reaction of Ba(NO3)2 with Fe(NO3)3·9H2O and H2C2O4·2H2O in aqueous medium readily affords, in high yield, the bimetallic complex polymer of chemical composition {Ba6(H2O)17[Fe(C2O4)3]4}·7H2O (1), consistent with the expected ratio of 3BaII vs. 2FeIII. Compound 1 was fully characterized by elemental and thermal analyses, vibrational FTIR spectroscopy, and by single crystal X-ray structure determination. The bulk structure of 1 is a 3-D metal-organic framework held together by intermetallic linkages across oxalate and aqua oxygen bridgings. Thermal analyses of 1 show significant weight losses corresponding to water molecules (lattice and coordinated), followed by the decomposition of the network.