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

Y(NO3)3 · 5H2O reacts with 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy) and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) to yield similar complexes of 1:2 yttrium:ligand stoichiometry. The 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 stereochemistry about YIII can be viewed as a sphenocorona. The new complexes were characterized by elemental analyses and spectroscopic (i.r., 1H-n.m.r. and 13C-n.m.r.) techniques. The data are discussed in terms of the nature of bonding and known solid state structures.