The antimony(III)-bridged heteropolyanion sandwich dimers [Sb(II3(A-α-XW9O34)2]11- (X = SiIV, GeIV and C-shaped double-sandwich [SbIII6O2(PW6O26)(A-α-PW9O34)2]15-.

Interaction of potassium antimony(iii) tartrate hydrate K(2)(SbC(4)H(2)O(6))(2)·3H(2)O with the trilacunary Keggin derivatives [A-α-XW(9)O(34)](10-) (X = Si(IV), Ge(IV)) and [A-α-PW(9)O(34)](9-) in aqueous acidic medium (pH 4.8) resulted in three novel polyanions, [Sb(3)(A-α-XW(9)O(34))(2)](11-) (X = Si(IV) (1), Ge(IV) (2)) and [Sb(6)O(2)(A-PW(6)O(26))(A-α-PW(9)O(34))(2)](15-) (3), which were isolated as the hydrated potassium salts K(11)[Sb(3)(A-α-XW(9)O(34))(2)]·31H(2)O (X = Si(IV) (K-1), Ge(IV) (K-2)) and the mixed potassium-sodium salt K(14)Na[Sb(6)O(2)(A-PW(6)O(26))(A-α-PW(9)O(34))(2)]·61H(2)O (KNa-3) salts, respectively, and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, as well as elemental and thermogravimetric analyses. The Sb(III)-containing polyanions 1-3 possess unique structural features, as they represent the first examples of sandwich-type POMs with trigonal-pyramidal Sb(III)O(3) linkers. The stability of 1-3 in aqueous media was investigated by multinuclear ((183)W, (31)P) NMR and UV-Vis spectroscopy.