Supramolecular architectures from the self-assembly of lanthanide coordination compounds containing glycine and phen via hydrogen bonding and π–π stacking interactions

Single crystal X-ray diffraction shows that [La(gly)2(H2O)2(phen)2(CH3CH2OH)](ClO4)3(phen)3·3H2O (1), [Ln(gly)2(H2O)2(phen)2](ClO4)3 (phen)4·nH2O [n=0, Ln=Nd (2); n=1, Ln=Ho (3)], and [Yb(gly)4(H2O)(phen)](ClO4)4(phen)2(gly+H)·2H2O (4) (gly=glycine, phen=1,10-phenanthroline) with the coordination number 9 for La3+, 8 for Nd3+ and Ho3+, and 7 for Yb3+, exhibit the effect of lanthanide contraction. Complexes 1–4 are all mononuclear structures, with the ligand glycine coordinated to the Ln3+ ion in the monodentate mode and in zwitterionic form. There exist free phen molecules and solvent molecules in the lattice. Therefore, there are different types of hydrogen bonding and π–π stacking interactions in the crystals that give rise to different supramolecular architectures. The structure of 1 is composed of 1D chains which extend in the [1 0 0] direction, while those of 2 and 3 are 2D structures extending in the (0 0 1) plane. However, complex 4 shows a complicated 3D network. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]