A metal-organic complex, which has the potential property of absorbing gases, [LaCu6(mu-OH)(3)(Gly)(6)im(6)](ClO4)(6) was synthesized through the self-assembly of La3+, Cu2+, glycine (Gly) and imidazole (Im) in aqueous solution and characterized by IR, element analysis and powder XRD. The molar heat capacity, C-p,C-m, was measured from T = 80 to 390 K with an automated adiabatic calorimeter. The thermodynamic functions [H-T - H-298.15] and [S-T - S298.15] were derived from the heat capacity data with temperature interval of 5 K. The thermal stability of the complex was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.