Crystal structure of a one-dimensional looped-chain silver(I) coordination polymer: catena-poly[[silver(I)-bis{mu-4-[1-(5 '-isopropyl-[1,1 ':3 ',1 ''-terphenyl]-2 '-yl)-1H-imidazol-2-yl]pyridine-kappa N-2:N '}] nitrate methanol monosolvate monohydrate]

In the title compound, {[Ag(C29H25N3)(2)]NO3 center dot CH3OH center dot H2O}(n), the Ag-I cation is four-coordinated by two pyridine N atoms and two imidazole N atoms from four individual 4-(1-(5'-isopropyl-[1,1':3',1 ''-terphenyl]-2'-yl)-1H-imidazol-2-yl)pyridine (i-pro-pyim) ligands. This gives rise to a highly distorted tetrahedral geometry with bond angles falling in the range 100.33 (19)-122.76 (19)degrees. Two crystallographically independent i-pro-pyim ligands (A and B) adopt very similar conformations to one another, such that the dihedral angles between the pyridyl and imidazolyl rings in the two ligands are 40.7 (3) and 42.2 (3)degrees, respectively. Each i-pro-pyim ligand binds two symmetry-related Ag+ cations, leading to the formation of 14-membered cyclic dimers, in which the Ag-I atoms are separated by 6.963 (2) angstrom for the Ag-A(2)-Ag dimer and 7.020 (2) angstrom for AgB2- Ag. These cyclic dimers are alternately connected to each other by sharing Ag-I atoms, resulting in the formation of a looped-chain structure extending along the [100] direction. Moreover, adjacent looped chains are connected by intermolecular pi-pi interactions [centroid-to-centroid distance = 3.689 (4) angstrom], giving rise to the formation of a two-dimensional supramolecular network propagating parallel to (110). Several intermolecular C-H center dot center dot center dot O andO-H center dot center dot center dot O hydrogen bonds further contribute to the stabilization of the crystal structure.