Poly[bis(4-chloropyridinium) tetra-μ2-chlorido-tetrachloridotrimercurate(II)]

The structure of the title compound, {(C5H5ClN)(2)[Hg3Cl8]}(n), consists of 4-chloropyridinium cations and one-dimensional [Hg3Cl8](2-) anion chains. There are two coordination environments for Hg-II in the inorganic chain. The first is a distorted tetrahedral geometry made up of an HgCl2 unit with two Cl- anion bridges, while the second is an octahedral coordination geometry consisting of an HgCl2 unit and four chloride-anion bridges. This gives rise to a novel three-layer centrosymmetric polymer. Finally, the three-dimensional network comes about through the many C-H center dot center dot center dot Cl and N-H center dot center dot center dot Cl hydrogen bonds that link the organic and inorganic layers.