Extended Structures Constructed from Alkoxo-Bridged Binuclear Complexes as Nodes and Bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene as a Spacer

Two new polynuclear complexes have been obtained by connecting alkoxo-bridged binuclear copper(II) complexes with bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene (bpe):  [Cu₂(Hdea)₂(bpe)]·(bpe)·(ClO₄)₂ (1) and [Cu₂(mea)₂(bpe)₂](ClO₄)₂ (2) (Hdea = mono-deprotonated diethanolamine and mea = deprotonated monoethanolamine). The structure of 1 consists of infinite chains that have resulted by connecting the bis(alkoxo)-bridged centrosymmetrical [Cu₂(dea)₂]²⁺ nodes with bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene rods. The Cu···Cu separations within the chain are 2.984 and 13.308 Å. The noncoordinated bpe molecules bind the parallel coordination polymer chains through hydrogen bond interactions, resulting in infinite gridlike sheets. Compound 2 exhibits an interlocked 3-D structure, resulting from the inclined interpenetration of 2-D gridlike sheets. Each sheet is constructed from [Cu₂(mea)₂] nodes, interconnected by bpe spacers. Every mesh of every sheet contains parts of two others passing through it. The distance between the alkoxo-bridged copper(II) ions within the nodes is 3.020 Å, while the distances between the copper ions bridged by bpe ligands are 13.381 and 14.051 Å.