Two one-dimensional gallium fluorodiphosphates Ga(P
2O
7)F·H
3N(CH
2)
3NH
3·3H
2O,
1, andGa(P
2O
7)F·H
3N(CH
2)
3NH
3·H
2O,
2, have been synthesized under mild conditions (<100
C)from aqueous mixtures of Ga(NO
3)
3·6H
2O, P
2O
5, 1,3-diaminopropane, and HF. Theirstructures consist of anionic chains of formula Ga(P
2O
7)F
2- containing corner-sharing{GaO
4F
2} octahedra linked together via fluorine and P
2O
7 units, which are charge-balancedby propyldiammonium dications. During the hydrothermal synthesis of the open-frameworkthree-dimensional ULM-3, compound
2 has been identified as the
crystalline intermediatephase when phosphorus pentoxide is used as a starting material. This process has beenfollowed in situ with time-resolved energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD), whichreveals that dissolution of the one-dimensional phase
2 occurs before the rapid crystallizationof ULM-3. If compound
2 is quenched from hydrothermal conditions, rapid and reversibleconversion to compound
1 takes place. The two chain phases are thus solid precursors ofthe microporous ULM-3, and tracking the transformation process using in situ EXDRD showsthat dissolution of
1 takes place before crystallization of
2 and then further transformationinto the 3D phase, with the
1 and
2 acting as
reservoirs of reactive species for ULM-3crystallization.