Syntheses, Crystal Structures, and Magnetic Properties of Metal-Organic Hybrid Materials of Co(II) Using Flexible and Rigid Nitrogen-Based Ditopic Ligands as Spacers

A carboxylate-based flexible ligand, 5-(4-carboxybenzyloxy)isophthalic acid (p-cbiaH(3)), readily reacts with Co(II) salts in the presence of different pyridine-based coligands such as 4-bis(4-pyridinylmethyl)piperazine (bpmp) or 1,2-di(4-pyridyl)ethylene (dpe) under hydrothermal conditions to afford two different three-dimensional (3D) coordination polymers, {[Co-4(OH)(2)(p-cbia)(2)(bpmp)-(H2O)(3)]center dot 2H(2)O}(n) (1) and {[Co-4(OH)(2)(p-cbia)(2)(dpe)(H2O)(4)]center dot 2H(2)O}(n) (2). Both compounds have been characterized by X-ray crystallography, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, and elemental analysis. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies reveal that both compounds consist of a tetranuclear core [Co-4(mu-OH)(2)](6+). Compound 1 is a unprecedented 3D non-interpenetrated (3,4,9)-connected pkb3 net. On the other hand, compound 2 is a 2-fold interpenetrated (3,8)-connected tfz-d net. Variable temperature static and dynamic magnetic measurements show that both compounds exhibit ferromagnetic behavior associated with mixed hydroxyl/carboxylate-bridged tetranuclear Co(II) clusters as subunits.