Crystals of pure and strontium-modified lanthanum tartrate bearing composition (La)(1-x)(Sr)(x-)C4H4O6 center dot nH(2)O (where x = 0, 0.04, 0.10, 0.15; n = 5,5,6,8) were obtained using gel method. The materials were studied using CH analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, FTIR, EDAX and thermoanalytical techniques. X-ray powder diffraction results analyzed by using suitable software suggest that while unmodified lanthanum tartrate has a monoclinic structure with the space group P-21, the entry of strontium into its lattice changes the system to orthorhombic with the space group P-2121. The unit cell volume is observed to decrease with increase in the concentration of strontium in lanthanum tartrate. Thermal analysis suggests that pure lanthanum tartrate starts decomposing at 41.31 degrees C whereas the strontium-modified lanthanum tartrate brings about better thermal stability which increases with an increase in strontium concentration. The percentage weight loss calculations from the thermogram supplemented by EDAX, CH analysis and FTIR spectroscopy suggest that both unmodified and strontium-modified lanthanum tartrate spherulitic crystals contain water of hydration; the amount of water of hydration being different for crystals with different content of strontium. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.