Noncovalent synthesis of hierarchical zinc phosphates from a single Zn(4)O(12)P(4) double-four-ring building block: dimensionality control through the choice of auxiliary ligands.

In contrast to the well-known reaction of phosphonic acids RP(O)(OH)(2) with divalent transition-metal ions that yields layered metal phosphonates RPO(3)M(H(2)O), the 2,6-diisopropylphenyl ester of phosphoric acid, dippH(2), reacts with zinc acetate in methanol under ambient conditions to afford tetrameric zinc phosphate (ArO)PO(3)Zn(MeOH) (1). The coordinated methanol in 1 can be readily exchanged by stronger Lewis basic ligands at room temperature. This strategy opens up a new avenue for building double-four-ring (D4R) cubane-based supramolecular assemblies through strong intercubane hydrogen-bonding interactions. Seventeen pyridinic ligands have been used to synthesize as many D4R cubanes (ArO)PO(3)Zn(L) (2-18) from 1. The ligands have been chosen in such a way that the majority of them contain an additional functional group that could be used for noncovalent synthesis of extended structures. When the ligand does not contain any other hydrogen-bonding donor-acceptor sites (e.g., 2,4,6-trimethylpyridine (collidine)), zero-dimensional D4R cubanes have been obtained. The use of pyridine, lutidine, 2-aminopyridine, and 2,6-diaminopyridine, however, results in the formation of linear or zigzag one-dimensional assemblies of D4R cubanes through strong intermolecular C-H...O or N-H...O interactions. Construction of two-dimensional assemblies of zinc phosphates has been achieved by employing 2-hydroxypyridine or 2-methylimidazole as the exo-cubane ligand on zinc centers. The introduction of an alcohol side chain on the pyridinic ligand in such a way that the -CH(2)OH group cannot participate in intracubane hydrogen bonding (e.g., pyridine-3-methanol, pyridine-4-methanol, and 3,5-dimethylpyrazole-N-ethanol) leads to the facile noncovalent synthesis of three-dimensional framework structures. Apart from being useful as building blocks for noncovalent synthesis of zeolite-like materials, compounds 1-18 can also be thermolyzed at approximately 500 degrees C to yield high-purity zinc pyrophosphate (Zn(2)P(2)O(7)) ceramic material.