A copper–organic complex from hydrothermal reaction involving in situ aromatic nucleophilic substitution of ligand

Reaction of in situ generated 4-(6-(pyridin-4-yl)pyridin-3-yl)phenol (pph) from 5-(4-bromophenyl)-2-(pyridin-4-yl)pyridine (bppy) by an aromatic nucleophilic substitution and copper nitrate in hydrothermal conditions led to the formation of a supramolecular framework, formulated as [Cu(pph)2]2MoO4 · 1/2H2O (1). Compound 1 represents a two-dimensional network based on intermolecular O–H⋯O hydrogen bonds, in which Cu(II) is reduced to Cu(I). The formation mechanism of the aromatic nucleophilic substitution was discussed.