Erbium fumarate [Er
2(fum)
3(H
2O)
4]·8H
2O,
1, (fum = fumarate dianion) crystallizes at room temperature in a silica gel column. The structure is three-dimensional and consists of layers of erbium fumarate pillaredby fumarate dianions acting in the bis-chelating mode. The layers contain arrays of erbium cations bridged byfumarate dianions acting in the bis-bidentate bridging mode. The relatively large channels formed in the directionof the
a and
c axes are filled by water molecules that form a hydrogen bonded layer, comprising cyclic hexamerswith both boat and chair conformations and cyclic decamers with boat-chair-boat conformation. The water moleculesare reversibly removed at 90
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
C. The evacuated metal-organic framework,
2, is stable up to 400
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
C. Both compounds
1 and
2 exhibit weak antiferromagnetic interactions.