Triethyl­ammonium bis­(2-oxido-2,2-diphenyl­acetato-κ(2) O (1),O (2))anti­monate(III)

The coordination around the Sb atom in the title compound, (C(6)H(16)N)[Sb(C(14)H(10)O(3))(2)], is fourfold in a pseudo-trigonal-bipyramidal pattern in which one of the equatorial sites is occupied by the stereoactive lone pair of electrons. The four ligating atoms comprise the hydoxylate and carboxyl­ate O atoms from two independent benzilate ligands, each of which forms a five-membered chelating ring, spanning an axial and an equatorial site about the Sb atom. The hydroxy­late atoms occupy the two equatorial sites, and the carboxyl­ate atoms are in the pseudo-axial sites; the O—Sb—O angle is 147.72 (5)°. One carboxyl­ate group shows quite different bond lengths from those of the other group; one O atom is clearly the carbonyl atom and the other O atom the hydroxy­late atom. In the other ligand, there is less distinction in the C—O bonds. This is presumably related to the carbonyl O atom being the acceptor atom of a strong N—H⋯O hydrogen bond, which links the ammonium cation to the Sb complex anion.