Toward the Rational Design of Lanthanide Coordination Polymers: a New Topological Approach

The implementation of four bidentate building blocks into a high-denticity linker with a flexible spacer leads to a predisposed ligand
that allows one to direct the self-assembly of 1D functional
coordination polymers. This is illustrated by the assembly under
mild conditions of the luminescent metal−organic framework
[Tb(Htpabn)]·14H2O∞ (1; H4tpabn = N,N,N‘,N‘-tetrakis[(6-carboxypyridin-2-yl)methyl]butylenediamine). The X-ray crystal structure
shows that the monoprotonated Htpabn binds two equivalent
lanthanide ions to form a one-directional staircase chain. The high
ligand denticity prevents solvent coordination and leads to a high
luminescence quantum yield (Q = 39%), which is maintained after
solvent removal.