Diverse Zn(II) MOFs assembled from V-shaped asymmetric multicarboxylate and N-donor ligands

•Four compounds based on a new semirigid tricarboxylate ligand, which has been rarely reported before.•These compounds display four different structures varying from OD to 2D.•Compounds 1–4 exhibit strong blue luminescence at room temperature.

By reacting an asymmetry semi-rigid V-shaped linker H3L (H3L = 3-(3-carboxyphenoxy) phthalic acid) and Zn(NO3)2·6H2O under different N-donor ligands in different solvents, four new Zn-based coordination polymers, [Zn(HL)(2,2′-bpy)(H2O)]n(1), [Zn(HL)(4,4′-bpy)]n·n(DMA) (2), [Zn3(L)2(phen)3(H2O)]n·n(H2O) (3) and [Zn(HL)(phen)(H2O)]2(4) (2,2′-bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine; 4,4′-bpy = 4,4′-bipyridine; phen = 1,10-phenanthroline; DMA = N,N-dimethylacetamide) have been obtained. All of these compounds have been clearly identified by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Compound 1 exhibits one-dimensional (1D) chain structure constructed from uninuclear Zn(II) motif, which further extends into 2D supramolecular architecture via intermolecular π–π interactions and hydrogen bonds. Structural analysis reveals that the structure of 2 and 3 can be described as a 2D hcb topology network with the point symbol of {63}. Compound 4 shows a 0D binuclear motif while its 3D packing network has a large potential solvent voids. The results of this research demonstrate that the solvent and the secondary ligands could co-regulate different structural coordination polymers with interesting properties. In addition, the thermal stabilities and solid-state luminescence properties of compounds 1–4 have also been investigated.

Graphical abstractPresented here are four MOFs based on a new semirigid tricarboxylate ligand. Of particular interest is that the four compounds are co-regulated by different auxiliary N-donor ligands and solvents.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide