Syntheses,structures, and properties of three MOFs based on tertbutylphenyl imidazole dicarboxylate

By hydrothermal reactions of a newly designed ligand, 2-(p-tert-butylphenyl)-1H-imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid (H₃BuPhIDC) with Cd(II) or Zn(II), three metal-organic frameworks, Cd(μ₃-HBuPhIDC)(H₂O)]·2H₂O (1), Cd(μ₃-HBuPhIDC)(4,4′-bipy)_0.5] (4,4′-bipy = 4,4′-bipyridine) (2), and Zn₂(μ₃-HBuPhIDC)₂(CH₃OH)₂] (3), have been obtained and characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In 1, small countless diamond grids form a mesh structure and then are bridged through μ₃-HBuPhIDC^2? linkers building a 3-D framework. Compared with 1, 4,4′-bipy participates in the construction of a 3-D structure of 2. Polymer 3 shows an interesting 3-D open architecture, which contains infinite 1-D octagonal channels built by left- and right-handed helical chains. Thermal and solid-state photoluminescence properties of the polymers have been investigated.