Unusual in situ synthesis of an N-heterocycle ligand in the self-assembly of polyoxometalate-based hybrid compound

An unusual coordination compound, [Cu4(dmpz)2(mi)2H3PMoVI8MoV4O40]·6H2O (dmpz = 2,3-dimethylphenazine, mi = 2-methyl-1H-imidazole) (1), has been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, XPS and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Compound 1 consists of dmpz and mi organic ligands, CuI cations and [H3PMoVI8MoV4O40]4 − polyoxoanions. Interestingly, the dmpz organic ligands are from in situ reaction of 1,2-diaminobenzene (dab) and 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid (bdc).