Synthesis and crystal structure of a 3‐D Ag+ coordination polymer with white‐light emission

Abstract

Treatment of AgNO3 with a tetrazolyl ligand H2L1 afforded a 3‐D coordination polymer [Ag2(L1)]n (1). The crystal structure was determined by X‐ray crystallography and it shows that both Ag1 and Ag2 atoms in the asymmetric unit exhibit distorted tetrahedron geometries, which are modified by Ag⋯Ag interactions. The flexible methylene –CH2– linkage between tetrazolate and phenyl ring effectively reduces the steric strain in the resultant 3D‐framework. L1 exhibits an unsual coordination mode in which all nitrogen atoms in the two tetrazolato units are coordinated to the AgI centers. The luminescent property of 1 was also investigated. It exhibits multiple emission bands; the high energy emission band is assigned to the ligand‐centered π⋯π transition, while the low energy emission bands are tentatively assigned to ligand‐to‐metal charge transfer (LMCT) that are modified by Ag⋯Ag interaction. The independence of the chromaticity coordinates of 1 on the excitation wavelength also suggests that it is a potentially useful single–component white‐light‐emitting material.