Syntheses, structures and photophysical properties of Zn–Ln coordination polymers

Abstract Eight novel coordination polymers, {[LnZn(2,3-pydc) 2 (ox) 0.5 (H 2 O) 3 ]·3H 2 O} n (Ln = Pr 1 , Nd 2 , Ho 3 , Er 4 , Yb 5 , Sm 6 , Eu 7 , Tb 8 ) (2,3-H 2 pydc = pyridine-2,3-dicarboxylic acid, H 2 ox = oxalic acid) are synthesized by the hydrothermal method and their structures are determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. They are isomorphous and crystallized in the triclinic system, with space group P 1 ¯ . In crystals, Ln(III) and Zn(II) ions are linked into 2D layers by 2,3-pydc 2− ligands adopting two coordination modes, and neighboring layers are bridged into 3D network structure through oxalate ligands in bridging tetradentate coordination mode. The IR, UV–Vis–NIR absorption spectra and emission spectra in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) region of polymers are determined and analyzed. All of polymers exhibit characteristic emission bands of corresponding Ln(III) ions, which should be attributed to sensitization from the d-block (Zn–ligand moiety) and ligands after introducing Zn(II) ion into the system of Ln(III) complexes.