The crystal structure and thermal stability of [bis-picrate(pentaethylene glycol)] praseodymium(III)picrate complex

Bis-picrate(pentaethylene glycol)]praseodymium(III) picrate, Pr(pic)₂⋅(EO5]⁺pic]⁻, was successfully obtained from the reaction of praseodymium nitrate hexahydrate, picric acid and pentaethylene glycol in acetonitrile–methanol as solvent. The crystal system is monoclinic with space group P2₁/c, a = 18.91419(11) Å, b = 9.0470(6) Å, c = 24.1209(14) Å and α = γ = 90^∘, β = 109.07(1)^∘, V = 3880.3(4) ų and Z = 4. The Pr atom is coordinated to the flexible and open EO5 ring via all the six oxygen atoms and two picrate ligands, one via phenoxo oxygen atom and the other one with both phenoxo and nitro oxygen atoms in a bidentate manner resulting a 9-coordinate tricapped trigonal prismatic geometry. The two picrate ligands coordinated to the Pr atom are at the opposite sides of the hexadentate EO5 ring with phenyl fragments almost perpendicular with dihedral angle of 89.7(3)^∘. Thermal analysis results show that the complex is stable up to 100^∘C when it began to slowly decompose and followed by an explosive decomposition at 290^∘C.