Structural diversity in imidazole and carboxylate-containing metal complexes dependent on the alkaline reagents

Three cadmium-organic frameworks [Cd(L)(DMF)(H2O)]center dot H2O (1), [Cd(L)(H2O)(2)](2)center dot 5H(2)O (2) and [Cd-2(L)(2)(H2O)(2)](2)center dot H2O (3) and two zinc complexes [Zn(L)] (4) and [Zn(L)(H2O)] (5) [H2L 5-(imidazol-1-ylmethyl) isophthalic acid, DMF N, N-dimethylformamide] have been synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray structure determination, IR, elemental analysis, and powder X-ray diffraction. Both these two series of complexes exhibit structural diversity, which was controlled by non-innocent alkaline reagents. Within the cadmium series, the in situ generated dimethylamine from DMF, NaOH and carbonate salt were utilized as the basic reagents for the syntheses of 1, 2 and 3, respectively. As a result, 1 has a 1D ladder structure, 2 is a uninodal 3-connected 2D (6(3)) network and 3 displays a binodal (3,6)-connected 3D framework with (4.6(2))(2)(4(2).6(10).8(3)) topology. Within the zinc series, tetrabutylammonium hydroxide and carbonate salt were used for the syntheses of 4 and 5, respectively. 4 showed a binodal (3,6)-connected 2D kgd net with [(4(3))(2)(4(6).6(6).8(3))] topology; while 5 is a 2-fold interpenetrated 3D (10, 3)-a architecture. The adsorption and luminescent properties of the complexes were investigated.