Tri­ethyl­ammonium bis­­(2-oxido-2,2-di­phenyl­acetato-κ2O1,O2)anti­monate(III)

The coordination around the Sb atom in the title compound, (C6H16N)[Sb(C14H10O3)2], is fourfold in a pseudo-trigonal-bipyramidal pattern in which one of the equatorial sites is occupied by the stereoactive lone pair of electrons. The four ligating atoms comprise the hydoxylate and carboxyl­ate O atoms from two independent benzilate ligands, each of which forms a five-membered chelating ring, spanning an axial and an equatorial site about the Sb atom. The hydroxy­late atoms occupy the two equatorial sites, and the carboxyl­ate atoms are in the pseudo-axial sites; the O-Sb-O angle is 147.72 (5)°. One carboxyl­ate group shows quite different bond lengths from those of the other group; one O atom is clearly the carbonyl atom and the other O atom the hydroxy­late atom. In the other ligand, there is less distinction in the C-O bonds. This is presumably related to the carbonyl O atom being the acceptor atom of a strong N-H...O hydrogen bond, which links the ammonium cation to the Sb complex anion.