Five
new nuclear coordination complexes based on a 2-hydroxymethylpyridine
(Hhmp) ligand, [Cu4(hmp)4(CHOO)2(H2O)2](ClO4)2·2H2O (1), [Cu8(hmp)8(CHOO)4(CH3CN)2(H2O)4](ClO4)4·2CH3CN (2), {[Cu2(hmp)2(CHOO)(H2O)]ClO4·H2O}n (3), [Co9(hmp)6(CHOO)6(CO3)2(H2O)6](ClO4)2·11H2O
(4), and [Co9(hmp)6(CHOO)7(CO3)2(H2O)5]ClO4·CH3CN·12H2O (5),
have been synthesized through evaporation at room temperature. As
expected, by changing the ratio of the mixed solvent complexes, 1–3 successfully grow from a [Cu4O4] monocubane (1) to octanuclear double-cubane
(2), which then further extends into polycubane (3, one-dimensional chain) via bridging ligands of formate.
By changing the metal source, complexes 4 and 5 with a similar {Co9} cluster are successfully obtained.
One water molecule coordinated with CoII in one [Co4O4] core of complex 4 has been replaced
by a formate anion in complex 5, resulting in the {Co9} cluster with +2 and +1 charges, respectively. The change
of charges on the clusters results in different cluster alignments,
changing the intermolecular interactions in 4 and 5. Magnetic measurements show that antiferromagnetism interaction
changes into weak ferromagnetic interaction in complexes 1–3, while the antiferromagnetic behavior turns
to glass spin in complexes 4 and 5.