The coordination polymers based upon new bidentate ligand 3,3',5,5'-tetramethyl-4,4'-bipyrazolyl (4,4'-bpz) have been prepared and characterized by means of X-ray analysis. In all compounds Ag(4,4'-bpz)NO3. CH3OH (1), Cd(4,4'-bpz)(C3H7OH)(NO3)(2) (2), Cd(4,4'-bpz)(2)(NO3)(2) (3), Cu(4,4'-bpz)(2)(H2O)(BF4)(2 .)0.5C(6)H(5)Br (4), and Cu(4,4'-bpz)(2)(H2O)(HCOO)(2).2.5HCONH(2) (5) the molecules of bipyrazolyl act as bridging neutral groups and connect two metal atoms at the distances of 9.58-10.25 Angstrom. Complexes 1 and 2 exhibit one-dimensional polymeric structure, while compounds 3-5 exist as two-dimensional polymers, containing layers of four-connected coordination nets. In structures 4 and 5 the layers are interlinked by means of hydrogen bonding involving counter anions, which lead to formation of three-dimensional open networks capable of incorporation of hydrophilic (5) or hydrophobic (4) guest molecules. Geometry of coordination polymer in these cases is significantly dominated by the angular structure of 4,4'-bpz ligand, while structure of the coordination net in 3 is very similar for analogues containing linear 4,4'-bipyridine bridges. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.