Lanthanide complexes with oda, ida, and nta:: From discrete coordination compounds to supramolecular assemblies

Lanthanide metal-organic frameworks have been receiving special attention for the last decade. The use of polydentate organic ligands has allowed the construction of interesting network topologies with many potential applications, based on the special characteristics of the 4f electrons. In this paper, the structural and thermodynamic properties of Ln(III) complexes with oxydiacetate, iminodiacelate, and nitrilotriacetate are critically reviewed. The presence of ligands able to act as a bridge promotes the formation of Ln-M polynuclear complexes with fascinating 3D structures, whose study is also included. Equilibrium data of these systems in aqueous solution have been collected, showing the relationship between the composition of the species in solution and the nuclearity in the solid state. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.