Chameleonic ligand in self-assembly and synthesis of polymeric manganese(II), and grid-type copper(I) and silver(I) complexes

The reactions of ligand L, comprising N,N,O donor atoms units, with appropriate metal ions lead to different structural motifs of resulting compounds depending on the kind of metal ions used in coordination. These results are a consequence of preferred metal coordination geometry and their properties. The complexation of ligand L with manganese(II) ions, whose tendency to form polymeric complexes is well-known, yielded a new zigzag polymeric chain: [MnL](n) (1). With tetrahedrally coordinated metal ions such as Cu(I) (2a,2b) and Ag(I) (3a,3b) ligand L is adequate for the generation of [2 x 2] grids. The new compounds have been characterized on the basis of spectroscopic data in solution, and confirmed in the solid state by X-ray crystallography in the case of complexes I and 2a. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.