Four Ni, Co, Cu, Zn-containing coordination polymers incorporating 4,4′,4′′,4′′′-tetrakiscarboxyphenylsilane (H4tcps) and 1,3,5-tris(2-methyl-1H-imidazol-1-yl)benzene (tmib) ligands, namely [Ni6(tcps)3(tmib)4(H2O)2] (1), [Co6(tcps)3(tmib)4] (2), [Cu2(tcps)(tmib)(H2O)] (3) and [Zn2(tcps)(tmib)] (4), were synthesized by the solvothermal method....