Two new 3-D coordination polymers with 5-tert-butyl isophthalic acid and flexible N-donor co-ligands bearing linear trinuclear secondary building blocks

Two new 3-D coordination polymers bearing linear trinuclear secondary building blocks with mixed bridging ligands, {[Ni3(tbip)2(Htbip)2(bib)2]·4H2O}n (1) and {[Co3(tbip)2(Htbip)2(btb)2]·4H2O}n (2) (H2tbip=5-tert-butyl isophthalic acid, bib=1,4-bis(imidazol-1-yl)butane, btb=1,4-bis(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)butane), were obtained and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, single-crystal X-ray crystallography and powder X-ray diffraction. Both complexes 1 and 2 display similar 3D 6-connected pcu networks containing the linear trinuclear [M3(COO)6] (M=Ni and Co) clusters as nodes.