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The molecular and supramolecular features of three triangular copper(II) propionate secondary building units (SBUs) which form different, self-assembled, 3D metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are reported. The compounds are remarkably active and selective catalysts or catalyst precursors for the mild peroxidative oxidation of cycloalkanes under mild conditions, into the corresponding alcohols and ketones.

The preparation, characterization, and structural models of a number of cadmium- and mercury-containing acetate/pyrazolate species, including a rare example of a polymer built by C-mercuriated pyrazoles is presented. The power diffraction methods using conventional X-ray laboratory equipment, supported by [super 13]C CPMAS NMR measurements helped in assigning a C-metalated nature to an amorphous material of [Hg(ac)-(pz)] formula, obtained by employing EtOH as a solvent.

The almost quantitative formation of the triangular trinuclear copper derivative [Cu(sub 3)(Mu(sub 3)-OH)(Mu-pz)(sub 3)(MeCOO)(sub 2)(Hpz)](1) (Hpz=pyrazole), is simply achieved by adding Hpz to an ethanol solution of Cu (Me COO)(sub 2). H (sub 2) O. An X-ray molecular structure determination shows that the derivative is completely unsymmetric and that trinuclear units result assembled in an extended bidimensional network formed through acetate bridges and hydrogen bonds.

An adhesive for particleboards based on natural materials was prepared. Soy flour (38.9 wt%), magnesium oxide (MgO) (2.8 wt%), and a hydrolysate from an agricultural crop (13.9 wt%) were mixed with water and ground in a ball mill at 44% solids. The solubility and interaction of the soy flour proteins and the proteins contained in the plant hydrolysate were triggered by the strong basic environment created by MgO in the presence of water. The natural adhesive appeared to be thermally stable at temperatures from 130 °C to 240 °C, with unchanged mass and no major signals in the thermal analysis curves. These results, together with a viscosity of 510 Pa·s at 25 °C, suggested a good operability of the adhesive. Three-layered particleboards were manufactured with weight combinations of natural adhesive and polyamidoamine-epichlorohydrin (PAE) of 0%:100%, 33%:67%, 50%:50%, 67%:33%, and 100%:0%. The natural adhesive showed inferior internal bond strength and poor water resistance compared with urea-formaldehyde-bonded boards. Addition of the PAE significantly improved the internal bond and swelling, and for all the combinations these properties were comparable or, in most cases, better than in the urea-formaldehyde controls. All boards were formaldehyde-free, while the natural adhesive itself released no dangerous volatile substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An array of new oxydiacetate derivatives of tin(IV) is prepared and characterized through a variety of techniques and an iminodiacetate compound of the same metal is made for comparison. The results reported an expansion of oxydiacetate compounds of p-block metals, a field hitherto poorly developed, particularly from a structural perspective, in contrast to the abundant structural information available for transition metal oxydiacetate complexes.

New polynuclear coordination species containing the ditopic bis(1-imidazolyl)methane (Bim) ligand have been prepared as microcrystalline powders and structurally characterized by ab initio X-ray powder diffraction methods. [Zn(CH3COO)2(Bim)]n contains 1D chains with tetrahedral metal atoms bridged by Bim ligands; [CdBr2(Bim)]n shows a dense packing with hexacoordinated Cd(II) ions and mu-Br and mu-Bim bridges; at variance, the isomorphous [ZnCl2(Bim)]n and [ZnBr2(Bim)]n species contain cyclic dimers based on tetrahedral Zn(II) ions. Thermodiffractometric analysis allowed estimation of the linear thermal expansion coefficients and strain tensors derived there from. Bim-rich phases, with 2:1 ligand-to-metal ratio, were also isolated: ZnBr2(Bim)2(H2O)3 and [Cd(CH3COO)2(Bim)2]n containing cis and trans MN4O2 chromophores, respectively, show 1D polymers built upon M2Bim2 cycles, hinged on the metal ions. In all species the conformation of the Bim ligands is Cs (or nearly so), while in the few sparse reports of similar coordination polymers the alternative C2 one was preferentially observed.

New polynuclear coordination species containing the ditopic bis(1-imidazolyl)methane (Bim) ligand have been prepared as microcrystalline powders and structurally characterized by ab initio X-ray powder diffraction methods. [Bim(Me2SnCl2)]n (1), [Bim(nBu2SnCl2)]n (3), [Bim(Ph2SnCl2)]n (4), [Bim(MeSnCl3)]n (5), and [Bim(PhSnCl3)]n (6) all contain 1D chains with octahedral tin atoms with trans N-Sn-N linkages (but 4, which displays a cis N-Sn-N linkage). Their thermodiffractometric analysis allowed the estimation of the linear thermal expansion coefficients and strain tensors derived there from. The potential-energy surface of the free Bim ligand (as defined by two torsional degrees of freedom about the two N-CH2 bonds), eventually controlling the length of the repeating unit (polymer elongation), has been estimated using molecular mechanics and correlated with experimental observations.