Chirality in supramolecular design and assembly of silver coordination polymers

Ag(l) cations, with their strong preference for linear coordination, represent very suitable candidates for the construction of coordination polymers even with those bidentate ligands which generally do not bridge between two but rather chelate a single metal center. The present thesis is focused on the role of chirality residing in the ligand, the anion or both for the structure of Ag(l) coordination polymers. The effects of achiral ligands and counteranions on the formation of these solids are also addressed. The synthesis of the coordination polymers in general starts from silver carbonate and the carboxylic acid and proceeds with evolution of carbon dioxide; the resulting silver carboxylate is reacted with the neutral ligand, thus avoiding the presence of additional allegedly non-coordinating anions such as nitrate or tetrafluoroborate. In most of the target compounds, the N donor ligands efficiently coordinates to the metal whereas secondary interactions link the carboxylate to the polycation.