Isomerism of a series of octahedrally coordinated transition metal carboxylate–phosphinates with 1,10-phenanthroline as a coligand: Discrete dimers or double-chains constructed by various dimeric ring motifs

Six octahedrally coordinated transition metal carboxylate–phosphinates with 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) as a coligand, namely [Mn(L)(phen)(H2O)]·2(H2O) (1), [Mn(L)(phen)(H2O)] (2), [Cu(L)(phen)(H2O)]·3(H2O) (3), [Cd(L)(phen)] (4), [Cd(L)(phen)]·3(H2O) (5) and [Cd(L)(phen)]·13/6(H2O) (6) (L2− = (2-carboxyethyl)(phenyl)phosphinate) are presented here, of which 1 and 3 show discrete dimer structures while 2, 4, 5 and 6 feature different double-chain arrays. Compounds 1 and 2, as well as 4, 5 and 6, can be regarded as isomers, and 3 bears a strong structural analogy to 1, although the metal species in them are different.

Graphical abstractSix octahedrally coordinated transition metal carboxylate–phosphinates featuring various discrete dimers or 1D double-chains are presented here, and the related supramolecular isomerism amongst them is discussed.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide