Bis(2,6‐diamino‐1H‐purin‐3‐ium) di‐μ‐croconato‐κ3O,O′:O′′;κ3O:O′,O′′‐bis[tetraaqua(croconato‐κ2O,O′)neodymium(III)]

The structure of the ionic title compound, (C₅H₇N₆)₂[Nd₂(C₅O₅)₄(H₂O)₈], consists of anionic dimers built around an inversion centre and is made up of an Nd^III cation, two croconate (croco) dianions and four water molecules (plus their inversion images), with two noncoordinated symmetry‐related 2,6‐diamino‐1H‐purin‐3‐ium (Hdap⁺) cations providing charge balance. Each Nd^III atom is bound to nine O atoms from four water and three croco units. The coordination polyhedron has the form of a rather regular monocapped square antiprism. The croconate anions are regular and the Hdap⁺ cation presents a unique, thus far unreported, protonation state. The abundance of hydrogen‐bonding donors and acceptors gives rise to a complex packing scheme consisting of dimers interlinked along the three crystallographic directions and defining anionic `cages' where the unbound Hdap⁺ cations lodge, linking to the mainframe via (N—H)_Hdap...O_water/croco and (O—H)_water...N_Hdap interactions.