Ionothermal Synthesis of Metal Oxalatophosphonates with a Three-Dimensional Framework Structure: Na 2 M 3 (C 2 O 4 ) 3 (CH 3 PO 3 H) 2 (M ) Fe II and Mn II ) Chun-Po Tsao, Chyi-Yang Sheu, Ninh Nguyen, and Kwang-Hwa Lii* ,†,§ Department of Chemistry, National Central UniVersity, Chungli, Taiwan 320, Republic of China, Laboratoire CRISMAT, UMR CNRS 6508, ENSICAEN et UniVersite ´ de Caen, 14050 Caen Cedex, France, and Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei, Taiwan 115, Republic of China Received March 8, 2006 Two isostructural transition-metal oxalatophosphonates, Na 2 M 3 (C 2 O 4 ) 3 (CH 3 PO 3 H) 2 (M ) Fe II and Mn II ), have been synthesized by using a low-melting-point eutectic mixture of choline chloride and malonic acid as a solvent and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and 57 Fe Mo ¨ ssbauer spectroscopy. The 3D framework structure consists of a corner-sharing octahedral trimer that is linked with other trimers through two distinct oxalate ligands with unusual linkage types, phosphonate tetrahedra, and H bonds to form infinite channels along the [101] direction where the Na + cations are located. They are the first examples for the use of an ionic liquid as a solvent in the synthesis of metal oxalatophosphonates. Crystal data for the Fe compound follow: monoclinic, P2 1 /n (No. 14), a ) 5.8063(1) Å, b ) 10.3867(3) Å, c ) 14.8094(4) Å, ) 96.926(1)°, and Z ) 2. Crystal data for the Mn compound are the same as those for the Fe compound except a ) 5.8734(9) Å, b ) 10.557(2) Å, c ) 14.863(2) Å, and ) 96.691(2)°. Introduction Many research activities have focused on the synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid compounds by incorporating or- ganic ligands in the structures of metal phosphates. A large number of metal oxalatophosphates of transition metals and main-group elements have been reported. 1 However, very few reports in the literature illustrate the use of oxalate anions forming part of the structure along with the phosphonate groups, although the chemistry of metal phosphonates has been extensively studied for many years. Sn 2 (O 3 PCH 3 )(C 2 O 4 ) and Sn 4 (O 3 PCH 2 CH 2 CO 2 ) 2 (C 2 O 4 ) are the first members of metal oxalatophosphonates. 2,3 The former has a 2D layer structure, and the latter adopts a 3D framework structure that consists of two different bifunctional linkers, phosphono- propionate and oxalate anions. Several lanthanide oxalate- aminophosphonate hybrids with 3D framework structures were also synthesized. 4 Recently, we reported the first organically templated metal oxalatophosphonate, (C 3 H 12 N 2 ) 0.5 - [Ga 3 (C 2 O 4 )(CH 3 PO 3 ) 4 ]0.5H 2 O, with a layer structure. 5 All of these oxalatophosphonates were synthesized in aqueous solutions under mild hydrothermal conditions. Recently, there were reports on the preparation of coor- dination polymers and aluminophosphates by using ionic liquid dialkylimidazolium salts or a low-melting-point eu- tectic mixture of choline chloride and urea. 6-10 The ionic liquids can not only act as solvents but also provide the * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: liikh@cc.ncu.edu.tw. National Central University. ENSICAEN et Universite ´ de Caen. § Academia Sinica. (1) (a) Lin, H.-M.; Lii, K.-H.; Jiang, Y.-C.; Wang, S.-L. Chem. Mater. 1999, 11, 519. (b) Lethbridge, Z. A. D.; Lightfoot, P. J. Solid State Chem. 1999, 143, 58. (c) Choudhury, A.; Natarajan, S.; Rao, C. N. R. J. Solid State Chem. 1999, 146, 538. (d) Do, J.; Bontchev, R. P.; Jacobson, A. J. Chem. Mater. 2001, 13, 2601. (e) Choi, C. T. S.; Anokhina, E. V.; Day, C. S.; Zhao, Y.; Taulelle, F.; Huguenard, C.; Gan, Z.; Lachgar, A. Chem. Mater. 2002, 14, 4096. (f) Jiang, Y.-C.; Wang, S.-L.; Lii, K.-H.; Nguyen, N.; Ducouret, A. Chem. Mater. 2003, 15, 1633 and references cited therein. (2) Adair, B.; Natarajan, S.; Cheetham, A. K. J. Mater. Chem. 1998, 8, 1477. (3) Stock, N.; Stucky, G. D.; Cheetham, A. K. Chem. Commun. 2000, 2277. (4) Song, J.-L.; Mao, J.-G. Chem.sEur. J. 2005, 11, 1417. (5) Lin, C.-H.; Lii, K.-H. Inorg. Chem. 2004, 43, 6403. (6) Jin, K.; Huang, X.; Pang, L.; Li, J.; Appel, A.; Wherland, S. Chem. Commun. 2002, 2872. (7) Copper, E. R.; Andrews, C. D.; Wheatley, P. S.; Webb, P. B.; Wormald, P.; Morris, R. E. Nature 2004, 430, 1012. Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 6361-6364 10.1021/ic0603959 CCC: $33.50 © 2006 American Chemical Society Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 45, No. 16, 2006 6361 Published on Web 07/14/2006