Sodium 5‐nitro‐2‐pyridonate trihydrate

The title compound, alternatively sodium pyridin‐2‐olate trihydrate, Na⁺·C₅H₃N₂O₃^?·3H₂O, crystallizes in the P space group. It is made up of edge‐shared chains of NaO₆ octahedra with five water mol­ecules and one 5‐nitro‐2‐pyridonate anion. Four of these water mol­ecules are bicoordinating, involved in connecting the adjacent octahedra, and the fifth is coordinated to only one octahedron. The crystal structure is stabilized by a network of strong O—H?O and O—H?N interactions. The organic moieties occupy the space between the chains with an antiparallel alignment.