Structural modulation of Cd(II) supramolecular frameworks with a versatile 2,4-dipyridyl-type building block and different dicarboxylate ligands

A series of Cd(II) coordination complexes with an elongated 2,4-dipyridyl-type building block trans-1-(2-pyridyl)-2-(4-pyridyl)ethylene (bpe) and different dicarboxylate ligands have been presented. Generally, bpe shows the unidentate coordination mode and serves as the terminal pendant, whereas the dicarboxylate ligands display various binding fashions to interlink the metal centers to form 1-D comb-like chain, ribbon, and fishbone arrays, as well as 2-D 4⁴ and 4.8² layered networks. Notably, the bpe building block is also involved in secondary interactions such as hydrogen bonding and aromatic stacking to construct the resulting supramolecular architectures. Thermal stability of these complexes has been studied by TG-DTA technique.