Bringing an “Old” Biological Buffer to Coordination Chemistry: New 1D and 3D Coordination Polymers with [Cu₄(Hbes)₄] Cores for Mild Hydrocarboxylation of Alkanes

New water-soluble 1D and 3D CuII/Na coordination polymers 1-3 bearing unprecedented [Cu4(Hbes)4] cores have been easily generated by aqueous-medium self-assembly and fully characterized, thus opening up the use of the common biological buffer H3bes, (HO3SCH2CH2)N(CH2CH2OH)2, in synthetic coordination chemistry. Apart from representing the first isolated and structurally characterized coordination compounds derived from H3bes, 1-3 show a remarkable promoting effect in the mild aqueous-medium hydrocarboxylation, by CO and H2O, of gaseous alkanes (C3H8 and n-C4H10) to the corresponding carboxylic acids, which are obtained in up to 95% yields based on the alkane.