A mild hydrothermal method has been adopted to prepare La1-xSrxMnO3 (x = 0.33, 0.5, 0.6 and 0.75), which is of interest for a number of possible applications, for example the colossal magneto resistance (CMR). The results from X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicate that pure phases La1-xSrxMnO3 have been prepared at 240 degrees C. Furthermore, the synthesis yields clearly faceted cubes with a cubic perovskite structure. Typical cubes have rising sizes ranging between 2 and 10 mu m with the strontium doping level rising. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy performed on La1-xSrxMnO3 shows that there is little difference in these samples with different doping levels. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.