Luminescent cadmium and zinc diphenate coordination polymers containing pyridyl-piperazine type ligands: Grids, diamondoid lattices, and a rare 4-connected net

► Cadmium and zinc diphenate coordination polymers with flexible dipyridine ligands. ► Cadmium 3-bpmp derivatives have grid-like or rare dmp topology. ► Cadmium 4-bpfp and 4-bpmp derivatives have diamondoid and grid topologies. ► Zinc 4-bpmp derivative has a 2-fold interpenetrated diamondoid lattice. ► All materials undergo blue-violet luminescence.