Syntheses, molecular and crystal structures of Ru(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) 1:1 complexes and Ni(II) and Fe(II) 1:2 complexes of 4-chloro2,2':6',2 ''-terpyridine (L), formulated as trans-[Ru(L-kappa N-3,N',N '')(DMSO-kappa S)Cl-2]center dot 2H(2)O (1), trans-[Cu(L-kappa(3) N,N',N '')(ClO4-kappa O)(2)(H2O-kappa O)] (2) and (Zn(L-kappa N-3,N',N '' cl(2)] (3), [Ni(L-kappa N-3,N',N '')(2)]Cl-2 center dot 3H(2)O (4), [Ni(L-kappa N-3,N',N '')(2)](BF4)(2) (5), and [Fe(L-kappa(3) N,N',N '')(2)]Cl-2 center dot 4H(2)O (6) were described in this paper. Versatile interactions in supramolecular level including coordinative bonding, O-H center dot center dot center dot O, O-H center dot center dot center dot Cl, C-H center dot center dot center dot O and C-H center dot center dot center dot Cl hydrogen bonding, pi-pi stacking play essential roles in forming different frameworks of 1-6. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.