Synthesis, characterization and single crystal X-ray structure determination of three cadmium(II) complexes derived from picric acid and p-nitrobenzoic acid in the presence and absence of nitrogen donor ligand N-(hydroxyethyl)ethylenediamine

New types of open-framework vanadium borophosphates with photocatalytic properties

The exploration of new open-framework polyoxometalates is very significant in structural chemistry and materials science. Herein, three new organic hybrid three-dimensional vanadium borophosphates (H3O)7(H2aeae)3{[Cd(H2O)3]2[H3O⊃(V2BP2O12)6]}·15H2O (1, aeae = 2-(2-aminoethylamino)ethanol) and (H3O)5(H2aeae)3{[TM(H2O)2.5(H2aeae)0.5]2[H3O⊃ (V2BP2O12)6]}·9H2O [TM = Mn(2), Co(3)] were hydrothermally prepared and structurally characterized. The three vanadium borophosphates contain similar 12-member ring crown-shaped clusters [(V2BP2O12)6]18- based on the linkage of six [V2O8] dimers and six [BP2O10] units. The [(V2BP2O12)6]18- cluster is further bridged by the unsaturated [Cd(H2O)3]2+ or [TM(H2O)2.5(H2aeae)0.5]3+ complexes to build new types of open-framework vanadium borophosphates with pores and cavities retained by the protonated H2aeae2+, H3O+ and free H2O. Surprisingly, the monodentate H2aeae2+ ligand coordinating with a metal center was observed in 2 and 3 for the first time as the aeae molecule acted as the trichelating ligand. Their optical absorption edges were determined to be in the range of 2.61-2.68 eV using solid-state UV-vis spectroscopy. 1-3 exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity towards methylene blue (MB) degradation under visible light irradiation, which presented the first example of organic hybrid open-framework vanadium borophosphates as the photo-catalysts for MB degradation.

An ionic Cd/Hg mixed-metal complex with an aminoalcohol ligand

A cadmium–mercury mixed-metal complex of cis-2-((2-((2-hydroxyethyl)amino)ethyl)amino)cyclohexan-1-ol (HEAC), [Cd(HEAC)2][HgI4] (1), was prepared and identified by elemental analysis, FT-IR, 1H NMR spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The X-ray analysis revealed an ionic structure for 1 in which the cadmium and mercury atoms have CdN4O2 and HgI4 environments, with distorted octahedral and tetrahedral geometries, respectively. The packing of the components in the crystal of 1 is supported by O–H···I hydrogen bonds, and these interactions lead to the formation of an R 4 4 ${\rm{R}}_4^4$ (22) motif.