A series of lanthanide compounds, [Ln(8)(CH2OHCH2OH)(8)(SO4)(12)]center dot m(C2H7N)center dot nH(2)O (Ln = Gd (1), Sm (2), Tb (3), La (5), m = 2, n = 2; Ln = Eu (4), m = 0, n = 8), which contain Ln(8) rings by sulfate and glycol as the ligand have been synthesized and characterized. Besides, small organic amine and l-tartaric acid act as dual templating roles during the synthetic process. Magnetic investigation of compound 1 reveals the existence of weak antiferromagnetic interactions between Gd-III ions and the data of magnetic entropy change (-Delta S-m) is 36.86 J K-1 kg(-1) (108.55 mJ cm(-3) K-1) for Delta H = 7 T at 2.0 K, which is comparatively large among GdIII based compounds. Additionally, because of the excellent luminescence properties of Sm-III, Tb-III, and Eu-III, compounds 2-4 were investigated.