Hydrothermal syntheses and crystal structures of two rectangular grid coordination polymers based on unique prismatic [M8(ip)8(4,4′-bipy)8] building blocks [M = Ni(II) or Cd(II), ip = isophthalate, bipy = bipyridine]

Two new coordination polymers formulated as [Ni(ip)(4,4'-bipy)] (1) and [Cd(ip)(4,4'-bipy)]H2O (2) have been hydrothermally prepared and structurally characterized. They crystallize in the triclinic space group P (1) over bar with Z = 2 for 1 and monoclinic space group P2/c with Z = 4 for 2, respectively. The dinuclear [M2L4(carboxylate)(4)] units in each complex are bridged by V-shaped ip and linear 4,4'-bipy spacers to form unique prismatic [M-8(ip)(8)(4,4'-bipy)(8)] building blocks, which are further inter-connected through the mixed organic ligands to generate two-dimensional rectangular grids. The packing modes of the two two-dimensional grids are slightly different in the orientations of the ip aromatic rings with respect to the planes of the rectangular grid coordination polymers. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.