Mercury(II) iodide coordination polymers generated from polyimine ligands

A series of new HgI₂ organic polymeric complexes, [Hg₂(L1)I₄]_n (1), [Hg(L2)I₂]_n (2), [Hg(L3)I₂]_n (3), [Hg₂(L4)I₄]_n (4), [Hg(L5)I₂]_n (5), [Hg(L6)I₃](HL6) (6) {L1 = 1,4-bis(2-pyridyl)-2,3-diaza-1,3-butadiene, L2 = 1,4-bis(3-pyridyl)-2,3-diaza-1,3-butadiene, L3 = 1,4-bis(4-pyridyl)-2,3-diaza-1,3-butadiene, L4 = 2,5-bis(2-pyridyl)-3,4-diaza-2,4-hexadiene, L5 = 2,5-bis(3-pyridyl)-3,4-diaza-2,4-hexadiene and L6 = 2,5-bis(4-pyridyl)-3,4-diaza-2,4-hexadiene} was prepared from reactions of mercury(II) iodide with six organic nitrogen donor-based ligands under thermal gradient conditions using the branched tube method. All these compounds were structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The HgI₂ coordination polymers obtained with the ligands L2, L3 and L5 show one-dimensional zig-zag motifs and in these compounds the HgI₂ units are connected to each other by the ligands L2, L3 and L5 through the pyridyl nitrogen atoms. The L1 and L4 ligands in the compounds 1 and 4 act as both a chelating and bridging group. In the compound 6 the ligand L6 acts as a monodentate ligand, resulting form a discrete compound. The thermal stabilities of compounds 1–6 were studied by thermal gravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analyses (DTA).