Four new coordination polymers (CPs) have been prepared
and evaluated
for their efficacy in adsorbing hydrogen sulfide. The reactions of
the structurally flexible assembling dithione ligand, L, with different silver(I) salts lead to four new metal–organic
coordination architectures (CPs I, III, V, and VIII) exhibiting either one- or two-dimensional
networks. CP I, 2D-[(Ag2Cl2)L]
n
, exhibits a linear series
of rhomboid (S)2Ag(μ2-Cl)2Ag(S)2 secondary building units (SBUs) where S is one of the thione
functions of L, altogether forming a 2D-network. CP III, 2D-[(AgI)L]
n
, is built upon parallel staircase-shaped 1D-[Ag2(μ3-I)2]
n
SBUs bridged
by S atoms of L that form a 2D-grid. CP V, 2D-[(AgL)(NO3)]
n
, presents
parallel 1D-folded S-shaped [AgL]
n
+ chains linked by strong argentophilic Ag···Ag
interactions, forming a 2D-scaffolding. CP VIII, 1D-[(Ag2
L
3)(Cr2O7)]
n
, shows 1D-zigzag [{Ag(η2-μ2,η-μ,μ-L)}2]
n
2n+ chains accompanied by Cr2O7
2– counteranions. The adsorption isotherms of H2S gas by
these new CPs were examined and compared to those of related CPs [(Ag2Br2)L]
n
(II), [(AgCN)4
L]
n
(IV), [(Ag2
L)(CF3SO3)2]
n
(VI), and [(Ag2
L)(NO3)(ClO4)]
n
(VII). Among the tested polymers, the 3D-CP IV featuring
cyanide anions exhibits the highest adsorption capacity of the CPs
studied in this work. In order to determine the reason for this marked
difference, density functional theory (DFT) computations were used.
All in all, it turns out that the electrostatic interactions (CN–···H-SH) are significantly stronger
than the O–···H-SH ones. This investigation
provides a valuable conceptual tool for other designs of CPs and MOFs
having the purpose of capturing toxic gases.