A series of lanthanide (III) coordination polymers derived via in situ hydrothermal decarboxylation of quinoline-2,3-dicarboxylic acid

•Eight lanthanide (III) complexes have been hydrothermally synthesized.•1,10-Phenanthroline and 2,3-H2qldc were used as the ligands.•In situ hydrothermal decarboxylation of 2,3-H2qldc was observed.

A series of one-dimensional coordination polymers assembled from LnNO3 · 6H2O (Ln = Sm(1), Eu(2), Tb(3), La(4), Ce(5), Pr(6), Nd(7), Dy(8)), quinoline-2,3-dicarboxylic acid (2,3-H2qldc) and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) formulated as [Ln(2,3-qldc)(3-qlc)(phen)]n (3-Hqlc = quinoline-3-carboxylic acid) were obtained under hydrothermal conditions. It is remarkable that in situ hydrothermal decarboxylation was observed during preparing these polymers. Complexes 1–8 were characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. The thermal stabilities and photoluminescence properties of these complexes have been investigated.

Graphical abstractA series of lanthanide (III) coordination polymers with intriguing structures based on quinoline-2,3-dicarboxylic acid, quinoline-3-carboxylic acid and 1,10-phenanthroline ligands have been hydrothermally synthesized. The thermal stabilities and photoluminescence properties of these complexes have been investigated.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide