Microporous chiral metal coordination polymers: hydrothermal synthesis, channel engineering and stability of lanthanide tartrates

L-Tartrate ions can endure hydrothermal conditions up to 160 °C to form the robust, enantiopure open-framework coordination polymers [Ln2(L-TAR)3(H2O)2]3H2O, 1; the addition of succinate results in formation of the related [Ln2(L-TAR)2(SUC)(H2O)2]5.5H2O, 2 with larger channels than 1, whereas racemic D/L-tartrate gives the more condensed [Ln2(D/L-TAR)3(H2O)2], 3. TAR = [C4H4O6]^2-.