Hydrothermal synthesis, crystal structures, and luminescent properties of a series of new lanthanide oxalatophosphonates with a layer architecture.

Eleven new lanthanide oxalatophosphonate hybrids with a 2D layered structures, namely, [Ln(H(3)L)(C(2)O(4))]·2H(2)O (Ln = La-Dy, Er and Y, H(4)L = C(6)H(5)CH(2)N(CH(2)PO(3)H(2))(2)), have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions and structurally characterized by X-ray single-crystal diffraction, X-ray powder diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. Compounds 1-11 are isomorphous and they exhibit a 2D framework structure. Two {LnO(8)} polyhedra and four {CPO(3)} tetrahedra are interconnected into a unit via corner-sharing, and the so-built units are bridged by the oxalate anions into a layer. The result of connections in this manner is the formation of a 24-atom window. The thermal stabilities and guest desorption-sorption properties of compounds 1-11 have been investigated. The luminescent properties of compounds 5, 6, 8 and 9 have also been studied.