Synthesis and characterization of metal complexes with a mixed 4-imidazole-containing ligand and a variety of multi-carboxylic acids

Six new metal-organic coordination polymers [Ni(L)(adip)(H2O)] (1), [Co(L)(adip)]center dot H2O (2), [Cd-2(L)(adip)(2)] (3), [Ni(L)(oxba)]center dot H2O (4), [Co(L)(obea)]center dot H2O (5) and [Mn-3(L)(2)(bta)(2)]center dot 2H(2)O (6) were synthesized by reactions of the corresponding metal salt with the rigid ligand 1,4-di(1H-imidazol-4-yl) benzene (L) and different multi-carboxylic acids of adipic acid (H(2)adip), 4,4'-oxybis(benzoic acid) (H(2)oxba), 1,2-phenylenediacetic acid (H(2)obea), benzene-1,3,5-triacetic acid (H(3)bta), respectively. The structures of the complexes were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Complexes 1-4 have entangled structures with different topologies: 1 is a 2-fold interpenetrating two-dimensional (2D) network with (4,4) topology containing rare meso-helical chains; 3 is a three-dimensional (3D) uninodal 8-connected self-penetrating net; 2 and 4 are a 3-fold interpenetrating dmp 3D net. Complex 5 is a 2D network with (4,4) topology, while 6 is a typical (3,8)-connected tfz-d 3D net based on the trinuclear Mn(II) subunits. Complex 3 exhibits intense light blue emission in the solid state at room temperature and the results of magnetic measurements show that there are antiferromagnetic interactions in 6.