Synthesis, Structural Characterization, and Antibacterial Activity of Novel Erbium(III) Complex Containing Antimony

The novel 3D edta-linked heterometallic complex [Sb₂Er(edta)₂(H₂O)₄]NO₃·4H₂O (H₄edta = ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) was synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermal analysis. The complex crystallizes in the monoclinic system with space group Pm. In the complex, each erbium(III) ion is connected with antimony(III) ions bridging by four carboxylic oxygen atoms, and in each [Sb(edta)]^- anion, the antimony(III) ion is hexacoordinated by two nitrogen atoms and four oxygen atoms from the edta^4- ions, together with a lone electron pair at the equatorial position. The erbium(III) ion is octacoordinated by four oxygen atoms from four different edta^4- ions and four oxygen atoms from the coordinated water molecules. The carboxylate bridges between antimony and erbium atoms form a planar array, parallel to the (1 0 0) plane. There is an obvious weak interaction between antimony atom and oxygen atom of the carboxyl group from the adjacent layer. The degradation of the complex proceeds in several steps and the water molecules and ligands are successively emitted, and the residues of the thermal decomposition are antimonous oxide and erbium(III) oxide. The complex was evaluated for its antimicrobial activities by agar diffusion method, and it has good activities against the test bacterial organisms.