Hydrothermal synthesis, crystal structures and fluorescence properties of three novel frameworks constructed with mixed ligands of isophthalic acid (1,3-BDC) and 2,3-di-2-pyridylquinoxaline (Dpdq): [M(1,3-BDC)(Dpdq)(H2O)m] · nH2O (M = CoII, CdII or ZnII)

Three novel metal–organic frameworks [M(1,3-BDC)(Dpdq)(H2O)m] · nH2O, (M = CoII (1), CdII (2) or ZnII (3); m = 0, 1; n = 0, 1, 2, respectively) have been obtained from hydrothermal reactions of three different metal(II) nitrates with the same mixed ligands [isophthalic acid (1,3-BDC) and 2,3-di-2-pyridylquinoxaline (Dpdq)], and structurally characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. Single-crystal X-ray analyses show that each pair of metal ions are bridged by various coordination modes of 1,3-BDC ligands to form left- and right-handed helical chains in 1, linear chains in 2, and double chains in 3, respectively. N-containing flexible ligand Dpdq takes a chelating coordination mode acting as terminal ligand. In the compound 1, adjacent left- and right-handed helical chains are packed through hydrogen bonds to form a two-dimensional (2-D) structure. In the compounds 2 and 3, adjacent chains are further linked by hydrogen bonds and/or π–π stacking interactions to form a three-dimensional (3-D) distorted hexagon meshes supramolecular framework for 2 and a ZnS-related three-dimensional (3-D) topology for 3, respectively. The different structures of compounds 1–3 illustrate that the influence of the metal ions in the self-assembly of polymeric coordination architectures. In addition, compounds 2 and 3 exhibit blue emission in the solid state at room temperature.