Assembly of a series of MOFs based on the 2-(m-methoxyphenyl)imidazole dicarboxylate ligand.

The coordination features of an imidazole dicarboxylate ligand, 2-(3-methoxyphenyl)-1H-imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid (m-H(3)MOPhIDC) has been explored. Consequently, seven coordination polymers, namely [Sr(m-HMOPhIDC)(H(2)O)](n) (1), [Sr(m-H(2)MOPhIDC)(2)](n) (2), [Cd(3)(m-H(2)MOPhIDC)(2)(m-HMOPhIDC)(2)(H(2)O)(2)](n) (3), [Cu(m-HMOPhIDC)(phen)](n) (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) (4), [Cd(2)(m-HMOPhIDC)(2)(phen)(2)](n) (5) [Cd(2)(m-HMOPhIDC)(2)(2,2'-bipy)(2)](n) (2,2'-bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine) (6) and [Co(m-HMOPhIDC)(H(2)O)(2)](n) (7) have been hydro(solvo)thermally synthesized by fine control over synthetic conditions, and structurally characterized. X-ray single-crystal analyses reveal that these polymers indicate rich structural chemistry ranging from one-dimensional (4-7), two-dimensional (1 and 3) to three-dimensional (2) structures, and the m-H(3)MOPhIDC ligand in these polymers can be singly deprotonated or doubly deprotonated, and coordinates to metal ions by various modes.