Structural characterization of a new samarium-sodium heterometallic coordination polymer.

Lanthanide-containing materials are of inter-est in the field of crystal engin-eering because of their unique properties and distinct structure types. In this context, a new samarium-sodium heterometallic coordination polymer, poly[tetra-kis-(μ 2 -2-formyl-6-meth-oxy-phenolato)samarium(III)sodium(I)], {[SmNa(C 8 H 7 O 3 ) 4 ]·solvent} n ( Sm-1 ), was synthesized and crystallized via slow evaporation from a mixture of ethanol and aceto-nitrile. The compound features alternating Sm III and Na I ions, which are linked by ortho -vanillin ( o -vanillin) ligands to form a mono-periodic chain-like coordination polymer. The chains propagate along the [001] direction. Residual electron density of disordered solvent mol-ecules in the void space could not be reasonably modeled, thus the SQUEEZE function was applied. The structural, vibrational, and optical properties are reported.