Interpenetrating metal-organic frameworks formed by self-assembly of tetrahedral and octahedral building blocks

To investigate the relationship between topological types and molecular building blocks (MBBs), we have designed and synthesized a series of three-dimensional (3D) interpenetrating metal-organic frameworks based on different polygons or polyhedra under hydrothermal conditions, namely [Cd(bpib)0.5(L1)] (1), [Cd(bpib)0.5(L2)]·H2O (2), [Cd(bpib)0.5(L3)] (3) and [Cd(bib)0.5(L1)] (4), where bpib=1,4-bis(2-(pyridin-2-yl)-1H-imidazol-1-yl)butane, bib=1,4-bis(1H-imidazol-1-yl)butane, H2L1=4-(4-carboxybenzyloxy)benzoic acid, H2L2=4,4′-(ethane-1,2-diylbis(oxy))dibenzoic acid and H2L3=4,4′-(1,4-phenylenebis(methylene))bis(oxy)dibenzoic acid, respectively. Their structures have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analyses and further characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectra, and thermogravimetric (TG) analyses. Compounds 1–3 display α-Po topological nets with different degrees of interpenetration based on the similar octahedral [Cd2(–COO)4] building blocks. Compound 4 is a six-fold interpenetrating diamondoid net based on tetrahedral MBBs. By careful inspection of these structures, we find that various carboxylic ligands and N-donor ligands with different coordination modes and conformations, and metal centers with different geometries are important for the formation of the different MBBs. It is believed that different topological types lie on different MBBs with various polygons or polyhedra. Such as four- and six-connected topologies are formed by tetrahedral and octahedral building blocks. In addition, with the increase of carboxylic ligands’ length, the degrees of interpenetration have been changed in the α-Po topological nets. And the luminescent properties of these compounds have been investigated in detail.