A rare 2D coordination polymer of graphite-like structure extended by infinite silver–oxygen–silver bonds

The reaction of AgNO3 and H3btb (H3btb = 1,2,3-benzenetricarboxylic acid) leads to the isolation of {[Ag(μ2-H2O)(μ2-H2btb)]}n · 1.5nH2O (1), which crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Fddd with a = 11.436(2) Å, b = 6.876(1) Å, c = 58.837(1) Å, V = 4626.5(2) Å3, Z = 32. Silver ions are connected by both strong Ag⋯Ag interaction and μ2-H2O bridges to form hexagonal Ag6 subunits, and are further assembled into a high ordered 2D grid, presenting an interesting graphite-like 63 net. Both the fluorescence and the crystal transformation after dehydration are studied.