Engineering of non-interpenetrating 3-D and 2-D networks and guest adsorption based on 4,4′-di(3-methyl)pyridyl sulfide copper(ii) complexes

Abstract

Two new coordination compounds, [Cu(L)₂SO₄]·0.5H₂O·0.5CH₂Cl₂ (1) and [Cu(L)₂(SCN)₂]·3CHCl₃ (2), were synthesized and structurally characterized. The molecular architectures of the 4,4′-di(3-methyl)pyridyl sulfide (L) coordination polymer networks are anion dependent. The molecular architecture of 1 is a 3-D non-interpenetrating network, SO₄²⁻ serving as a bridging ligand to connect two copper ions resulting in a rhombic box with a volume of 793 ų. While 2 is a 2-D planar network with SCN⁻ acting as a mono-coordinating ligand. Guest adsorption experiments show that 1 prefers to selectively adsorb 4-chlorophenol rather than nitrobenzene and benzophenone and DMF. In contrast, 2 does not adsorb any of the above guest species.