Abstract
An improved synthesis using microwave heating affords (C(6)H(4)PO(OCH(3))(2))(2) in excellent isolated yield (95 %). The ligand properties of this bisphosphonateester were explored towards hard metal centers M(2+) (M = Ca, UO(2)) and M(3+) (M = La, Ce, Sm, Eu) resulting in coordination polymers, for which the reduction of ionic size of the central metal atom resulted in lower-dimensional structural motifs as opposed to higher dimensional networks obtained for the larger ions. All coordination polymers were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, and combustion analysis. The ligand was furthermore characterized with multinuclear NMR spectroscopy.