Construction of transition-metal coordination polymers using multifunctional imidazole dicarboxylates as spacers

Abstract

By hydrothermal reactions of metal salts with two kinds of 2-position substituted imidazole- dicarboxylate ligands, 2-(3-methoxyphenyl)-1H-imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid (m-H₃MOPhIDC) and 2-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-1H-imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid (3,4-H₃DMOPhIDC), three 3D polymers {[Mn₃(m-MOPhIDC)₂(H₂O)₆]·4H₂O}_n (1), {[Zn₃(m-MOPhIDC)₂(H₂O)₆]·4H₂O}_n (2) and [Sr(3,4-H₂DMOPhIDC)₂]_n (3), and two 1D polymers [Cd₂(3,4-HDMOPhIDC)₂(H₂O)₄]_n (4) and [Zn(3,4-HDMOPhIDC)(phen)]_n (5) (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) have been afforded and structurally characterized. In the polymers, the imidazole dicarboxylate ligands show strong coordination ability and various coordination modes, which confirm the theoretical prediction. Furthermore, the thermal and photoluminescence properties of polymers 1–5 have been investigated.