Insertion of Trivalent Lanthanides into Uranyl Vanadate Layers and Frameworks

Two new uranyl vanadates have been prepared from hydrothermal reactions and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure of (H3O)­UO2VO4 (UVO-1) consists of anionic layers containing UO22+ pentagonal bipyramids coordinated by edge-sharing VO5 square pyramids, with the charge balanced by interlaminar H3O+ cations. Vanadium in (UO2)3(VO4)2(H2O)3 (UVO-2) exists as monomeric VO4 tetrahedra coordinating to UO22+ pentagonal bipyramids, forming a 3D uranyl­(VI) vanadate framework. Similar reactions with the addition of Ln­(NO3)3 (Ln = Nd, Eu) afford the three heterobimetallic lanthanide uranyl vanadate frameworks Nd­(UO2)3(VO4)3(H2O)11 (NdUVO-1), Eu­(UO2)3(VO4)3(H2O)10 (EuUVO-1), and Eu2(UO2)12(VO4)10(H2O)24 (EuUVO-2). In NdUVO-1 and EuUVO-1, Ln3+ cations are inserted into the interlayer space of UVO-1 substituting for H3O+ and further bridging adjacent layers into 3D frameworks. Similarly, EuUVO-2 adopts the same sheet topology as UVO-2, with Eu3+ ions replacing some of the interlayer uranyl ions in UVO-2. Our work has demonstrated that uranyl vanadate extended structures are excellent hosts for further incorporation of trivalent lanthanide/actinide cations and has provided a new way to create new heterobimetallic 4f–5f and 5f–5f compounds.