A Mild Synthetic Route to Zinc, Cadmium, and Silver Polymers with (2-Pyridyl)phosphonic Acid: Synthesis and Analysis

Five new metal pyridylphosphonate polymers have been prepared, fully characterized, and their room‐temperature luminescence probed. The reaction of (2‐pyridyl)phosphonic acid (2pypo) with ZnX2 (X = Br, Cl) afforded two‐dimensional polymers [Zn(X)(2pypo)]n {X = Cl = (1), X = Br = (2)}, which feature cyclic 12‐membered Zn–O–P cores that are interlinked by bridged oxygen atoms from the phosphonate moiety. From the room–temperature, aqueous reactions of 2pypo and the corresponding metal salts, the one‐dimensional polymers [Cd(μ‐Cl)2(2pypo)]n (3) and [Hg(2pypo)]n (4) were isolated in moderate yield. The one‐dimensional structure of 3 is supported through bridging chlorides and two η2‐phosphonate oxygen atoms, while 4 is a highly symmetrical polymer that exhibits pyridyl nitrogen coordination to the mercury center and uses two μ2‐oxygen atoms to polymerize. Reaction of silver triflate (CF3SO3Ag) with 2pypo afforded a crystalline silver polymer that displays a zig‐zag arrangement of silver atoms with argentophilic interactions and that is stablized through bridged triflate and phosphonate moieties. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008)