An Unusual Mercury(II) Diisopropyldithiocarbamate Coordination Polymer

A new polymeric mercury­(II) diisopropyldithiocarbamate complex was synthesized by the reaction of sodium diisopropyldithiocarbamate with excess HgCl₂ in water. The precise structure of the new compound was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. A similar reaction, using a stoichiometric excess of the ligand, yielded the known monomeric bis­(diisopropyldithiocarbamato)­mercury­(II) complex. The complexes could not be distinguished from each other by their solution-phase NMR spectra or their FTIR spectra. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy (¹⁹⁹Hg and ¹³C) provided unambiguous data and showed that the monomeric complex and polymeric complex do not interconvert in solution or during crystal growth. Thermogravimetric experiments revealed quite different thermal decomposition behavior between the two compounds.