Syntheses, crystal structures and properties of three novel coordination polymers with tripodal imidazole-containing ligands and benzenetetracarboxylate

Three novel coordination polymers, [Ni2(tib)2(btec)]·2H2O (1), [Co2(tib)2(btec)]·2H2O (2) and [Zn4(tib)2(btec)Cl4]·2H2O (3), have been synthesized by using mixed ligands of 1,3,5-tris(1-imidazolyl)benzene (tib) and 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid (H4btec) under hydrothermal conditions. Complexes 1 and 2 have the same structure and are rare three-dimensional (3D) self-penetrating (3,4,5)-connected nets, while complex 3 is an unprecedented (3,4)-connected 3D net. The different structures of 1 (2) and 3 are ascribed to the distinct coordination geometry of the metal centers. The thermal stability and photoluminescence property of the complexes were investigated.