Reactions of 2,2 '-bipyridine (bpy) and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) with yttrium(III) nitrate: preparation, X-ray crystal structures and spectroscopiccharacterization of the bis-bpy and bis-phen complexes

Y(NO3)(3) . 5H(2)O reacts with 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) and 1,10-phenanthrolin e (phen) to yield similar complexes of 1:2 yttrium:ligand stoichiometry. Th e crystal structures of the two complexes, namely, [Y(NO3)(3)(bpy)(2)] (1) and [Y(NO3)(3)(phen)(2)] (2), are reported. The three nitrate groups are O, O'-bidentate and the organic ligands are also bidentate. In both structures the metal ion lies on a crystallographic two-fold axis. The stereochemistr y about Y-III can be viewed as a sphenocorona. The new complexes were chara cterized by elemental analyses and spectroscopic (i.r., H-1-n.m.r. and C-13 -n.m.r.) techniques. The data are discussed in terms of the nature of bondi ng and known solid state structures.