Ethane‐1,1,2‐trisphosphonic acid hemihydrate

Ethane‐1,1,2‐trisphosphonic acid crystallizes as a hemihydrate, C₂H₉O₉P₃·0.5H₂O, in which the water O atom lies on an inversion centre in the space group P2₁/c. The acid component, which contains a short but noncentred O—H...O hydrogen bond, adopts a gauche conformation. The acid components are linked by an extensive series of O—H...O hydrogen bonds to form layers, which are linked into pairs by the water molecules.