Counterion Effect and Isostructurality in a Series of Ag(I) Complexes Containing a Flexible, Imidazole Based Dipodal Ligand.

The crystal structures of a series of Ag(I) complexes with 1,3-bis(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)-5-methylbenzene () and the counterions BF (), PF (), ClO (), and CFSO () were analysed to determine the effect of the latter on their formation. All resulting compounds crystallise in the non-centrosymmetric space group of a monoclinic system and show the formation of cationic, polymeric 1D Ag(I) complexes. SCXRD analyses revealed that compounds - are isostructural, though shows opposite handedness compared to and , resulting in an inversed packing arrangement. The presence of the larger, elongated triflate counterion in leads to a different ligand conformation, as well as different arrangements of the ligand in the cationic chain, and simultaneously results in a packing that exhibits fewer similarities with the remaining three compounds.