The zirconium nitrate complexes (NO 2 )[Zr(NO 3 ) 3 (H 2 O) 3 ] 2 (NO 3 ) 3 (1), Cs [Zr(NO 3 ) 5 ] (2), (NH 4 ) [Zr(NO 3 ) 5 ](HNO 3 ) (3), and (NO 2 ) 0.23 (NO) 0.77 [Zr(NO 3 ) 5 ] (4) were prepared by crys tallization from nitric acid solutions in the presence of H 2 SO 4 or P 2 O 5 . The complexes were characterized by X ray diffraction. The crystal structure of 1 consists of nitrate anions, nitronium cations, and [Zr(NO 3 ) 3 (H 2 O) 3 ] + complex cations in which the Zr IV atom is coordinated by three water molecules and three bidentate nitrate groups. The coordination polyhedron of the Zr IV atom is a tricapped trigonal prism formed by nine oxygen atoms. The island structures of 2 and 3 contain [Zr(NO 3 ) 5 ] -anions and Cs + or NH 4 + cations, respectively. In addition, com plex 3 contains HNO 3 molecules. Complex 4 differs from (NO 2 )[Zr(NO 3 ) 5 ] in that three fourth of the nitronium cations in 4 are replaced by nitrosonium cations NO + , resulting in a decrease in the unit cell parameters. In the [Zr(NO 3 ) 5 ] -anion involved in complexes 2-4, the Zr IV atom is coordinated by five bidentate nitrate groups and has an unusually high coordina tion number of 10. The coordination polyhedron is a bicapped square antiprism.Until recently, only a few zirconium(IV) nitrate com plexes were known, which is associated with the fact that these complexes are highly prone to hydrolysis giving rise to zirconyl derivatives. For example, zirconyl nitrate hy drate ZrO(NO 3 ) 2 •2H 2 O generally crystallizes from nitric acid solutions. The crystal structure of this compound consists of the infinite OH bridged [Zr(NO 3 ) 2 (OH) 2 ] n chains, which are linked to each other through crystalli zation water molecules. 1 Crystalline precipitates, which decomposed in air to form ZrO(NO 3 ) 2 •2H 2 O, were iso lated from saturated solutions of ZrO(NO 3 ) 2 •nH 2 O (n = 2, 6) or ZrO(OH)(NO 3 )•2H 2 O in 70-100% HNO 3 . 2 In the cited study, the Zr(NO 3 ) 4 •6H 2 O and Zr(NO 3 ) 4 • •5H 2 O compositions were assigned to these precipitates, and the unit cell parameters of both compounds were determined. Evidence for the existence of the acidic salt Zr(NO 3 ) 4 •2HNO 3 •4H 2 O was reported; 3 however, the au thor pointed out a possible inaccuracy of the quantitative composition of zirconium nitrates associated with an un avoidable loss of nitric acid in the course of sampling and treatment of liquid and solid phases.The Zr(NO 3 ) 4 salt can be prepared by the reaction of ZrCl 4 with an excess amount of nitric anhydride (nitro gen pentoxide) followed by sublimation of zirco nium tetranitrate during heating of the reaction mix ture in vacuo. 4 The sublimate can contain crystals of nitronium pentanitratozirconate (NO 2 )[Zr(NO 3 ) 5 ]. The latter is the only zirconium(IV) nitrate complex whose crystal structure has been unambiguously established. In this compound, the Zr IV atom is bound to five bidentate nitrate groups and has a coordination num ber of 10, which has not been observed earlier for zir conium. 5 The sublimate prepared...