Coordination polymers of Cu(I) with a chiral push-pull ligand: hierarchical network structures and second harmonic generation

Hierarchical structures of chiral coordination polymers based on Cu(I) and the C 2 -symmetric ligand, N,N'-bis(4-cyanophenyl)-(1R,2R)-diaminocyclohexane are presented. The polymer topologies, two-dimensional network in one case and three-dimensional architecture built up of three interwoven diamondoid structures in the other, arise from significant differences in the ligand conformations and modes of ligation. The impact of the structural motifs on the solid-state optical second harmonic generation capability is discussed.