Hydrothermal reactions of 1, 2, 4, 5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid (H 4 BTC) with cadmium acetate and copper acetate in the presence of imidazole (imz) resulted in two new coordination polymers, namely, [Cd(imz) 3 ] 2 (BTC)Á0.5H 2 O 1, [Cu 4 (H 2 O) 2 (imz) 8 ](BTC) 2 Á7H 2 O 2.Two compounds have been characterized structurally using single-crystal diffraction, elemental analysis, and FT-IR spectrum. In compound 1, the hexa-coordinated Cd(II) ions are bridged by BTC to form two-dimensional rhombohedral grid sheets. In compound 2, the coordination polyhedrons [CuO 4 N 2 ] and [CuO 3 N 2 ] are bridged by BTC to lead to a 2D framework with rectangular-shaped cavities. Two compounds of third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties were determined by Z-scan technique in DMSO solution. The results showed that two compounds exhibited strong NLO absorption and strong self-focusing effects. The third-order NLO absorptive coefficients b(MKS) are 5.45 9 10 -11 m W -1 for 1 and 9.81 9 10 -11 m W -1 for 2. The refractive indexes c(MKS) are 3.96 9 10 -18 m 2 W -1 for 1 and 7.60 9 10 -18 m 2 W -1 for 2. The third-order NLO susceptibility v (3) are calculated to be 1.25 9 10 -11 for 1, 2.32 9 10 -11 esu for 2, respectively. These values are larger than those of metal coordination polymers reported.