ZnII and CuII complexes generated from 5-(pyridin-4-yl)-3-[2-(pyridin-4-yl)ethyl]-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2(3H)-thione

A new 1,3,4-oxadiazole-containing bispyridyl ligand, namely 5-(pyridin-4-yl)-3-[2-(pyridin-4-yl)ethyl]-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2(3H)-thione (L), has been used to create the novel complexes tetranitratobis{mu-5-(pyridin-4-yl)-3-[2-(pyridin-4-yl)ethyl]-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2(3H)-thione}zinc(II), [Zn-2(NO3)(4)(C14H12N4OS)(2)], (I), and catena-poly[[[dinitratocopper(II)]-bis{mu-5-(pyridin-4-yl)-3-[2-(pyridin-4-yl)ethyl]-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2(3H)-thione}] nitrate acetonitrile sesquisolvate dichloromethane sesquisolvate], {[Cu(NO3)(C14H12N4OS)(2)]NO3 center dot 1.5CH(3)CN center dot 1.5CH(2)Cl(2)}(n), (II). Compound (I) presents a distorted rectangular centrosymmetric Zn2L2 ring (dimensions 9.56 x 7.06 angstrom), where each Zn-II centre lies in a {ZnN2O4} coordination environment. These binuclear zinc metallocycles are linked into a two-dimensional network through nonclassical C-H center dot center dot center dot O hydrogen bonds. The resulting sheets lie parallel to the ac plane. Compound (II), which crystallizes as a nonmerohedral twin, is a coordination polymer with double chains of Cu-II centres linked by bridging L ligands, propagating parallel to the crystallographic a axis. The Cu-II centres adopt a distorted square-pyramidal CuN4O coordination environment with apical O atoms. The chains in (II) are interlinked via two kinds of pi-pi stacking interactions along [0 $(1) over bar $1]. In addition, the structure of (II) contains channels parallel to the crystallographic a direction. The guest components in these channels consist of dichloromethane and acetonitrile solvent molecules and uncoordinated nitrate anions.