Synthesis and structure of photoluminescent di- and trinuclear copper(I) complexes assembled from alkane-bridged bis-imidazole

[Cu2Br2L1(PPh3)4]2 · 2CH2Cl2 · 3H2O (1) (L1 = bis(N-imidazolyl)butane) and [Cu3I2(PPh3)6(L2)2] · 2DMSO · Br · H2O (2) (L2 = bis(N-imidazolyl)methane) have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis and elemental analysis. Compound 1 is a tetracoordinated dinuclear complex, it consists of two Cu(PPh3)2 units bridged by a bis(N-imidazolyl)butane ligand. While compound 2 is a trinuclear copper(I) complex, in the compound copper atoms are located in two kinds of coordination spheres, for the two terminal copper(I) atoms, they are surrounded by two P, one N, and one iodine atoms to complete their tetrahedron geometry. While the middle copper(I) atom is surrounded by two P and two nitrogen atoms, the bromide anion exists as free counter anion. The photoluminescent studies show that the two complexes display intense blue emissions.