Two 3D supramolecular polymers constructed from an amino acid and a high-nuclear Ln6Cu24 cluster node.

The first successful attempt to construct 3D supramolecular frameworks with high-nuclear 3d-4f heterometallic clusters as a node is reported. The self-assembly of Ln3+, Cu2+ and amino acid in solution leads to the formation of two polymers, 35-nuclear complex [Sm6Cu29] 1 with a primitive cubic net-like structure and 36-nuclear complex [Nd6Cu30] 2 with a face-centred cubic network type structure. Glycine and L-proline, respectively, were used as ligands. It should be noted that 2 has a chiral framework. X-ray structure analyses show that 1 crystallizes in the triclinic P1 space group (a=19.6451(8), b=20.4682(8), c=20.7046(8) A, alpha=89.453(1), beta=66.290(1), gamma=68.572(1) degrees, V=7003.0(5) A3 and Z=1) and 2 belongs to the cubic P2(1)3 space group (a=b=c=32.4341(3) A, V=34 119.7(5) A3 and Z=4). Both complexes utilize Ln6Cu24 octahedral clusters as nodes and trans-Cu(amino acid)2 groups as bridges. Electrical conductivity measurements reveal that both polymers behave as semiconductors.