Preparation and crystal structure of a triple parallel interpenetrated copper coordination polymer based on a flexible bis(imidazole) ligand

A Cu(II) coordination polymer, [Cu(L)(bdc)] (n) (L = 1,4-bis(imidazole)butane, bdc = 1,3-benzenedicarboxylate) has been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectrum, thermogravimetric analysis, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The complex is a rare example of a threefold parallel interpenetrated coordination bonding network based on undulant [Cu-4(mu (2)-L)(2)(mu (2)-bdc)(2)] parallelograms with 4(4)-sql layer. The heterogeneous catalytic activity of the complex was tested for the degradation of Congo red azo dye in a Fenton-like process in which the degradation efficiency reached 94 % after 100 min. Kinetic analysis indicates that the degradation rate of the dye can be approximated by pseudo-first-order kinetics.