Abstract

A novel coordination polymer was synthesized from strontium carbonate and benzylic acid in aqueous solution and is formulated as Sr[(C6H5)4(COCOO)2 2H2O]. This compound was characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction. The crystal structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The complex crystallizes in the monoclinic P21/n space group, with unit cell parameters a = 15.0224(9) Å, b = 7.5038(6) Å, c = 25.000(2) Å, = 94.764(2)°, V = 2808.4 Å3, Z = 4. In the structure, the metallic ion is coordinated to eight oxygen atoms, six from benzilate molecules, and two from water molecules, forming a distorted tetragonal antiprism. One of the benzilates is coordinated to the metal in a monodentate fashion (carboxylate only), while the other benzilate molecule does it in the bidentate from carboxylate and hydroxide. Strontium ions form infinite zig-zag chains along the 010 direction, which form a three-dimensional network via O-H O hydrogen-bond interactions between the coordinated water molecules and the O atoms of the carboxylate groups. The intermolecular interactions were analyzed using Hirshfeld surface analysis.