Mixed-ligand complexes with trans-1-(2-pyridyl)-2-(4-pyridyl)ethylene terminal and different aromatic polycarboxyl linkers: Synergistic modulation of metallosupramolecular architectures via coordinative and secondary interactions

A series of CoII, NiII, and CuII complexes with trans-1-(2-pyridyl)-2-(4-pyridyl)ethylene (bpe) and various polycarboxyl co-ligands have been prepared under general condition and characterized by IR, elemental analysis, and TG-DTA techniques. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction indicates that these complexes display multifarious binuclear, 1-D, and 2-D coordination motifs in virtue of the bridging polycarboxyl building blocks, in which the bpe ligand uniformly adopts the unidentate coordination by using its 4-pyridyl group. Remarkably, higher-dimensional extended networks are further formed with the aid of additional secondary interactions based on bpe (such as H-bonding and π–π stacking). These results demonstrate that bpe is a reliable bifunctional tecton to construct diverse supramolecular architectures via synergistic effect of multiple intermolecular interactions.

Graphical abstractThis work presents a series of CoII, NiII, and CuII complexes with a bifunctional building block trans-1-(2-pyridyl)-2-(4-pyridyl)ethylene and different aromatic polycarboxyl co-ligands, which display diversiform metallosupramolecular networks that are regulated by both coordinative and secondary interactions.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide