For structurally characterized dinuclear rare earth pivalate complexes, Ln(2)(piv)(6)(Hpiv)(6)center dot Hpiv (Hpiv is pivalic acid, Ln = La (1), Sm (2), Eu (3), and Gd (4)), Tb-2(Piv)(6)(HPiv)(6) (5), (bpy)(2)Ln(2)(piv)(6), (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine, Ln=Sm (6), Eu (7), Gd (8), and Er (9)), and (phen)(2)Ln(2)(piv)(6) (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, Ln=Sm (10), Eu (11), and Tb (12)), the temperature dependences of the heat capacities were measured by adiabatic and differential scanning calorimetry, and the thermodynamic functions C-p(0)(T), S-0(T), Phi(0)(T), and H-0(T) - H-0(0) were calculated. The C-p(0)(T) curves for the complexes with pivalic acid and 2,2'-bipyridineshow anomalies, whereas no structural changes are observed for the complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline between the temperature range from 5 K to the temperature of the ligand removal. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.