Syntheses, crystal structures and properties of two 1-D cadmium(II) coordination polymers based on 1,1′-(1,3-propanediyl)bis-1H-benzimidazole

The combination of framework-builders 1,1′-(1,3-propanediyl)bis-1H-benzimidazole (pbbm), Cd(II) ion and framework-regulator ClO4− or SO42− provides two new coordination polymers [Cd(pbbm)2(ClO4)2]n(1) and {[Cd(pbbm)SO4(H2O)2]·CH3OH}n(2). Both of them display 1-D chain framework, but their detailed structures are clearly different from each other. 1 displays a 1-D ribbon of rings framework, 2 features an interesting infinite 1-D looped chain structure composed of two kinds of rings, the smaller 8-membered ring and the larger 20-membered ring. The antimicrobial activities of the two polymers were tested by the agar diffusion method and the results indicated that they exhibited antimicrobial activities against bacterial strands. The measurement of the non-isothermal kinetics of the thermal decomposition of 2 reveals that there are at least three steps that occur in its decomposition process.