Structure of tri­aqua­tris­(1,1,1-tri­fluoro-4-oxo­pentan-2-olato)cerium(III) as a possible fluorescent compound

Luminescence due to the d–f transition of Ce(3+) is quite rare in metal–organic complexes where concentrate quenching frequently occurs. One of the possible ways to avoid this is to design an architecture with elongated metal–metal distances. In the structure of the title complex, tri­aqua­tris­(1,1,1-tri­fluoro-4-oxo­pentan-2-olato-κ(2) O,O′)cerium(III), [Ce(C(5)H(4)F(3)O(2))(3)(H(2)O)(3)], the Ce(III) complex is linked to neighbouring ones by hydrogen bonding. Within the complex, the Ce(III) atom is coordinated by nine O atoms from three 1,1,1-tri­fluoro-4-oxo­pentan-2-olate (tfa) anions as bidentate ligands and three water mol­ecules as monodentate ligands. Thus, the coordination number of Ce(III) atom is nine in a monocapped square–anti­prismatic polyhedron. The F atoms of all three independent CF(3) groups in tfa are disordered over two positions with occupancy ratios of about 0.8:0.2. The inter­molecular hydrogen bonds between the ligands involve tfa–water inter­actions along the [110] and [1-10] directions, generating an overall two-dimensional layered network structure. The presence of the F atoms in the tfa anion is responsible for an increased inter­molecular metal–metal distance compared to that in the analogous acetyl­acetonate (acac) derivatives. Fluorescence from Ce(3+) is, however, not observed.