Coordination polymers of Mn2+ and Dy3+ ions built with a bent tricarboxylate: metamagnetic and weak anti-ferromagnetic behavior.

Two new coordination polymers have been synthesized with Mn(2+) and Dy(3+) ions using a new bent ether-bridged tricarboxylic acid ligand, o-cpiaH(3) (5-(2-carboxy-phenoxy)-isophthalic acid). The ligand readily reacts with a Mn(2+) salt in presence of pyridine (py) under hydrothermal condition to afford a 3D coordination polymer {[Mn(9)(o-cpia)(6)(py)(3)(3H(2)O)]·H(2)O}(n) (1), that contains two types of polymeric chains. One of them is merely carboxylate bridged Mn(2+) where each metal ion shows both penta- and hexa-coordination. The other chain consists of carboxylate-bridging along with terminally bound pyridines providing both penta- and hexa-coordination to each metal ion. When o-cpiaH(3) is treated with Dy(NO(3))(3).xH(2)O under solvothermal condition, it gives rise to an unusual double layer (6,6) connected 2D coordination polymer {[Dy(o-cpia)]}(n)(2), where each metal ion is hexacoordinated. The double layer 2D sheets are stacked to each other in AA··· fashion through strong C-H···π interactions to generate an overall 3D supramolecular architecture. Both the complexes have been characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry and elemental analysis. Variable temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate that 1 exhibits metamagnetic behavior while 2 shows weak antiferromagnetic behavior.