Ligand-dependent assembly of dinuclear, linear tetranuclear and one-dimensional Zn(ii) complexes with an aroylhydrazone Schiff baseElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. CCDC 941209, 938714 and 938713. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c6ce02292h

Three complexes, [Zn(H 2 L 1 )(CH 3 COO)] 2 ·CH 3 OH ( 1 ), [Zn 4 (H 2 L 2 ) 2 (CH 3 COO) 4 ]·4DMF ( 2 ) and {[Zn 4 (L 3 ) 2 (CH 3 COO) 4 ]·DMSO} n ( 3 ) (H 3 L 1 = 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (2-hydroxy-5-nitro-benzylidene)-hydrazide, H 4 L 2 = 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoic acid (2,3-dihydroxy-benzylidene)-hydrazide, H 2 L 3 = (4-nitro-phenoxy)acetic acid (2-hydroxy-3-methoxy-benzylidene)-hydrazide)), have been synthesized and studied, in which three kinds of ligands have been designed by introducing diversified bridging-functional groups. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis showed that 1-3 are dinuclear, linear tetranuclear and 1D chain coordination complexes, respectively, which were achieved by controlled synthesis of multinuclear complexes through ligand design. The luminescence properties of these crystallized complexes have been investigated both in solution and the solid state. The controlled synthesis of multinuclear Zn( ii ) coordination complexes from dinuclear, linearly tetranuclear to extending 1D structures has been achieved based on ligand design.