Anhydrous tris(dibenzoylmethanido)( o -phenanthroline)europium(III), [Eu(DBM) 3 (Phen)]

The hydrated tris­(di­benzoyl­methanido)(o-phenanthroline)­euro­pium(III) complex, [Eu(DBM)3(Phen)]·xH2O, is converted efficiently into an­hydro­us tris­(di­benzoyl­methanido)(o-phenanthroline)­europium(III), [Eu(DBM)3(Phen)] or [Eu(C15H11O2)3(C12H8N2)], by heating under vacuum. The title compound has been characterized by FT–IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction methods. It crystallizes in the triclinic space group P 1 with five mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit, without any pseudosymmetry. The trivalent europium ion is eight-coordinate, and the coordination polyhedron can best be described as a slightly distorted square antiprism.