Bis(4,4'-bipyridinium) di-μ-hydroxido-bis-[dihydroxido(pyridine-2,6-dicarboxyl-ato)anti-monate(III,V)] octa-hydrate.

The reaction of anti-mony(III) chloride, 4,4'-bipyridine (4,4'-bipy) and pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid (pydcH(2)), in a 1:2:2 molar ratio in an aqueous solution, resulted in the formation of the title centrosymmetric disordered mixed-valence Sb(III)/Sb(V) compound, (C(10)H(9)N(2))(2)[Sb(2)(C(7)H(3)NO(4))(2)(OH)(6)]·8H(2)O or (4,4'-bipyH)(2)[Sb(pydc)(OH)(2)(μ-OH)](2)·8H(2)O. The seven donor atoms of the (pydc)(2-) groups and the hydroxido ligands form a distorted penta-gonal-bipyramidal arrangement around the Sb(III)/Sb(V) centers. C-H⋯π stacking inter-actions between CH groups of the complex dianion and the aromatic rings of the (4,4'-bipyH)(+) cations, with a distance of 2.89†à , are observed. In the crystal structure, a wide range of noncovalent inter-actions, consisting of O-H⋯O, N-H⋯O and C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds [D⋯A ranging from 2.722†(2) to 3.137†(3)†à ], ion pairing, π-π stacking [centroid-centroid distance of 3.4363†(13)†à ] and C-H⋯π inter-actions, connect the various components into a supra-molecular structure.