A systematic look at structural diversity of metal phosphonates

Herein, we report the synthesis of three new copper phosphonate frameworks using a tetrahedral‐shaped organic building block, methane tetra‐p‐phenylphosphonic acid (H8‐MTPPA), and three different N‐ancillary ligands terpyridine (terpy), 2,2’‐bipyridine (2,2’‐bpy), phenanthroline (phen) to optimize the ligand binding modes on copper coordination sphere to generate molecular secondary building units (SBUs) in metal organophosphonates.  We report the crystal structures of rod‐shaped one‐dimensional zig‐zag chain structure, [{Cu(terpy)}(H6‐MTPPA)(H2O)].2H2O, three‐dimensional framework, [{Cu5(2,2’‐bpy)2}(H2‐MTPPA)(H4‐MTPPA)], and one‐dimensional structure [{Cu2(phen)2}(H4‐MTPPA)].4H2O. Magnetic analysis of three‐dimensional copper phosphonate framework, namely [{Cu5(2,2’‐bpy)2}(H2‐MTPPA)(H4‐MTPPA)], showed paramagnetic behavior. Crystal structures were characterized by single crystal X‐ray diffraction, FT‐IR, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).