Multivalent hydrogen-bonded architectures directed by self-complementarity between [Cu(2,2'-biimidazole)] and malonate building blocks.

The synthesis and structural characterization of four novel supramolecular hydrogen-bonded arrangements based on self-assembly from molecular `[Cu(2,2'-biimidazole)]' modules and malonate anions are presented, namely, tetrakis(2,2'-biimidazole)di-μ-chlorido-dimalonatotricopper(II) pentahydrate, [Cu(CHO)Cl(CHN)]·5HO or [Cu(Hbiim)(μ-Cl)Cu(mal)]·5HO, aqua(2,2'-biimidazole)malonatocopper(II) dihydrate, [Cu(CHO)(CHN)(HO)]·2HO or [Cu(Hbiim)(mal)(HO)]·2HO, bis[aquabis(2,2'-biimidazole)copper(II)] dimalonatodiperchloratocopper(II) 2.2-hydrate, [Cu(CHN)(HO)][Cu(CHO)(ClO)]·2.2HO or [Cu(Hbiim)(HO)][Cu(mal)(ClO)]·2.