Pyridinium Salts of Dehydrated Lanthanide Polychlorides.

The reaction of lanthanide (Ln) chloride hydrates ([) with pyridine (py) yielded a set of dehydrated pyridinium (py-H) Ln-polychloride salts. These species were crystallographically characterized as [[py-H-py][py-H][LnCl]] (; Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd) or [[py-H][LnCl(py)]] ((; Ln = Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu). The metal centers adopt an octahedral (-6) geometry, binding six Cl ligands.