A series of coordination polymers with 2D → 3D interdigitated structures self-assembled from 1,4-bis(4-(imidazole-1-yl)benzyl)piperazine.

Six new coordination polymers, namely [Co 2 (1,2-bdc) 2 (bibp) 2 ]·H 2 O ( 1 ), [Zn 2 (1,2-bdc) 2 (bibp) 2 ]·H 2 O ( 2 ), [Ni 2 (1,2-bdc) 2 (bibp) 3 ]·7H 2 O ( 3 ), [Cd(1,2-bdc)(bibp) 0.5 ] ( 4 ), [Co(Hbtc)(bibp)] ( 5 ), [Cd(Hbtc)(bibp)] ( 6 ) (bibp = 1,4-bis(4-(imidazole-1-yl)benzyl)piperazine, 1,2-bdc = 1,2-benzenedicarboxylate, btc = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate), have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. Their structures were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses and further characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectra and TG analyses. Compounds 1 – 6 display different 2D → 3D interdigitated structures due to their different 2D layers. In 1 and 2 , the 2D layers contain single-stranded meso- helical chains. In 3 , there are large rhombic cavities in the 2D sheet. In 4 , the 2D layer is built from rod-shaped SBUs. In 5 and 6 , the 2D layers exhibit highly undulating 4 4 - sql networks. In addition, the magnetic properties for compounds 1 , 3 and 5 , and the photoluminescence properties for compounds 2 , 4 and 6 have also been investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]