Di- and trinuclear Co(II) phenanthroline complexes of suberic acid (H2L):[Co2(phen)2(H2O)2L2]·5H2O and {Co[Co(phen)(H2O)4]2L4/2}L·4H2O

[Co2(phen)2(H2O)2L2]·5H2O 1 and {Co[Co(phen)(H2O)4]2L4/2}L·4H2O 2 (H2L=suberic acid, HOOC–(CH2)6–COOH) were prepared by reaction of phenanthroline and suberic acid with freshly-precipitated CoCO3·xH2O and Co(OH)2·yH2O, respectively, in EtOH/ H2O. Compound 1 consists of the centrosymmetric dinuclear [Co2(phen)2(H2O)2L2] complex molecules and hydrogen bonded H2O molecules and the complex molecules are assembled via π–π stacking interactions and weak C–H⋯O hydrogen bonds to generate 2D layers, whose assembly based on O–H⋯O hydrogen bonds results in 3D framework with the crystal H2O molecules in tunnels. The crystal structure of 2 featured the polymeric ∞1{Co[Co(phen)(H2O)4]2L4/2}2+ cationic chains from bis-monodentate suberato ligands doubly bridging trinuclear {Co[Co(phen)(H2O)4]2}6+ units, in which the central Co atom is coordinated via μ2-H2O molecules to two [Co(phen)(H2O)4]2+ complex ligands. Through π–π stacking interactions, the polymeric cationic chains are held together into 2D layers, which are further connected by suberate anions and lattice H2O molecules. The thermal and magnetic behavior of 1 and 2 is discussed.