Assemblies, crystal structures and properties of ZnII, CdII, CuII and AgI supramolecular complexes with trans-1-(2-pyridyl)-2-(4-pyridyl)ethylene and 5-tert-butylisophthalic acid

This work presents a series of four ZnII, CdII, CuII and AgІ supramolecular complexes based on trans-1-(2-pyridyl)-2-(4-pyridyl)ethylene (bpe) and 5-tert-butylisophthalic acid (5-t-buH2ip). Complexes 1–4 have been prepared at ambient condition and characterized by IR, microanalysis, and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) techniques. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction indicates that complexes 1–3 display different 1D coordination motifs while 4 shows a tetranuclear structure. Moreover, extended 2D and 3D supramolecular architectures are further constructed in 1–4 via secondary interactions such as H-bonding and aromatic stacking. Notably, structural diversification for these complexes can be properly assigned to the central metal ions that have distinct coordination preferences. In addition, thermal stability and solid state fluorescence for these complexes have also been studied and discussed in detail.