Role of ligand conformation in the structural diversity of copper(II) and silver(I) coordination polymers containing the angular dipyridyl ligand bearing amide spacer

The new dipyridyl ligands N,N′-(methylenedi-p-phenylene)bis(pyridine-4-carboxamide), L1, and N,N′-(methylenedi-p-phenylene)bis(pyridine-3-carboxamide), L2, incorporating amide spacers have been synthesized and reacted with metal salts to give complexes of the types Cu(L1)₂X₂]_∞ (X = Cl, 1 and X = Br, 2), {Cu(L1)₂(DMF)](NO₃)₂}_∞, 3, {Ag₂(L1)₂](SO₄)}_∞, 4, and {Cu(L2)(DMSO)₂(NO₃)](NO₃)}_∞, 5. All compounds have been characterized by spectroscopic methods and their structures determined by X-ray crystallography.Complexes 1, 2 and 3 form 1-D double-stranded polymeric chains showing rhombic molecular squares with approximate dimensions of 16.95 × 19.13 Å² for 1, 17.03 × 19.06 Å² for 2 and 16.66 × 19.94 Å² for 3. Complex 4 forms infinite 1-D zigzag polymeric chains, which are interlinked through a series of Ag–O interactions to form wavy 1-D ladder like chains, and complex 5 forms 1-D sinusoidal chains. While the L1 ligands in complexes 1, 2 and 3 adopt the cis conformation and that in complex 4 adopts trans conformation, the L2 ligand in complex 5 adopts the trans-anti conformation. The ligand conformations also differ in the dihedral angles between the pyridyl and phenyl rings. All complexes exhibit emissions which may be tentatively assigned as intraligand (IL) π → π* transition.