Syntheses, structures, luminescent and photocatalytic properties of two Zn(II) coordination polymers assembled with mixed bridging N-donors and 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,5-imidazole dicarboxylic acid ligand

Two new Zn(II) coordination polymers were prepared by the hydrothermal reaction of the new designed H4CpIDC ligand and ZnCl2 in the presence of different N-containing co-ligands. Both complexes 1 and 2 exhibit the 3D framework in which there exist different 21 helices built by IDC groups bridging ZnII ions. The deprotonated HCpIDC3- and CpIDC4− ligands adopt different coordination modes leading to diverse topological structure of two complexes. Moreover, two complexes with good thermal stability display strong fluorescence emissions in the solid state at the room temperature and complex 1 show some extent of photocatalytic activities for RhB.257