Despite the wide range of applications of a-hydroxyisobutyric acid (HIBA) in biochemical processes, pharmaceutical formulations, and group and elemental separations of lanthanides and actinides, the structures and geometries of lanthanide-HIBA complexes are still not well understood. We reacted HIBA with lanthanides in aqueous solution at pH = 5 and synthesized 14 lanthanide-HIBA complexes of the formula [Ln(HIBA)(2)(H2O)(2)](NO3)center dot H2O (Ln = La (1), Ce (2), Pr (3), Nd (4), Sm (5), Eu (6), Gd (7), Tb (8), Dy (9), Ho (10), Er (11), Tm (12), Yb (13), Lu (14)), isolating single crystals (1-7, 10, and 11) and powders (8, 9, and 12-14). Both single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction studies reveal a two-dimensional extended structure across the entire lanthanide series. The environment around the eight-coordinated Ln(III) atom is best described as a distorted dodecahedron, where HIBA acts as a monoanionic tridentate ligand with one carboxylato oxygen atom and one hydroxyl oxygen atom chelating to one Ln(III) center. The carboxylato oxygen atom from a second HIBA ligand bridges to a neighboring Ln(III) atom to form a two-dimensional extended structure. While the coordination mode for HIBA is identical across the lanthanide series, three different structure types are found for La, Ce-Ho, and Er-Lu. Solution characterization using C-13 NMR further confirmed a single solution complex under the crystallization conditions. Raman and UV-vis-NIR absorbance and diffuse reflectance spectra of HIBA-Ln(III) complexes were also measured.