Two chiral coordination polymers: Preparation and X-ray structures of mono(4-sulfo-L-phenylalanine)(diaqua) zinc(II) and copper(II) complexes

Hydrothermal treatment of 4-sulfo-L-phenylalanine (H-2-SPA) with Zn(OH)(2) and Cu(OH)(2) affords two novel 1-D chiral coordination polymers [Zn(SPA)(H2O)(2)](2) (1) and [Cu(SPA)(H2O)(2)](n) (2) as chiral supramolecular aggregates through strong hydrogen bonding of the sulfonate group. 1 also displays a strong second harmonic generation (SHG) response.