(4,4′‐Bipyridine)mercury(II) Coordination Polymers,Syntheses, and Structures

Mercury(II) complexes with 4,4′‐bipyridine (4,4′‐bipy) ligand were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, and IR, ¹H‐ and ¹³C‐NMR spectroscopy. The structures of the complexes Hg₃(4,4′‐bipy)₂(CH₃COO)₂(SCN)₄]_n ( 1 ), Hg₅(4,4′‐bipy)₅(SCN)₁₀]_n ( 2 ), Hg₂(4,4′‐bipy)₂(CH₃COO)₂]_n(ClO₄)_2n ( 3 ), and Hg(4,4′‐bipy)I₂]_n ( 4 ) were determined by X‐ray crystallography. The single‐crystal X‐ray data show that 2 and 4 are one‐dimensional zigzag polymers with four‐coordinate Hg‐atoms, whereas 1 is a one‐dimensional helical chain with two four‐coordinate and one six‐coordinate Hg‐atom. Complex 3 is a two‐dimensional polymer with a five‐coordinate Hg‐atom. These results show the capacity of the Hg‐ion to act as a soft acid that is capable to form compounds with coordination numbers four, five, and six and consequently to produce different forms of coordination polymers, containing one‐ and two‐dimensional networks.