Alkali cation influence on copper cyanide solid-state architecture: two self-assembled copper(I)–sodium and copper(I)–potassium complexes showing 2D and 3D structures

Two new alternating cyano-bipyrimidine-bridged copper(I) polymers of formula [Cu2(bpm)2(CN)3Na] and [Cu(bpm)(CN)2K] (bpm=bipyrimidine) have been synthesized and their structures solved by X-ray diffraction. The structure of [Cu2(bpm)2(CN)3Na] consists of trinuclear Cu–bpm–Na–bpm–Cu units interconnected through cyanide groups to afford a 2D network, whereas that of [Cu(bpm)(CN)2K] is a 3D structure formed by interconnected cyanide-bridged copper(I)–potassium 2D honeycomb-like layers. In both structures the alkali cations play a templating role which is responsible of the final 2D and 3D network constructions.