Two new supramolecular compounds induced by novel vinylpyridine cationic templates: synthesis, structures and enhanced photocatalytic properties.

Two novel complexes $$\{\hbox {(Pepy)}[\hbox {Cu}_{2}\hbox {(SCN)}_{4}]\}_{\mathrm{n}}$$ ( 1) and $$\{\hbox {(Pepy)}[\hbox {Cu}_{2}\hbox {Br}_{4}]\}_{\mathrm{n}}$$ ( 2) [Pepy=1-2-(Pyridinium-1-yl)-1-ethenyl) pyridinium] based on vinylpyridinium organic cation and cuprous salts have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffractometry. Compound 1 has a 2D polypseudorotaxane structure and compound 2 presents a 1D chain structure. Furthermore, the thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra, the morphology and the photocatalytic performances were studied carefully. Remarkably, both 1 and 2 exhibited good photocatalytic degradation abilities towards some dyes. Graphical Abstract: Two novel complexes $$\{\hbox {(Pepy)}[\hbox {Cu}_{2}\hbox {(SCN)}_{4}]\}_{\mathrm{n}}$$ and $$\{\hbox {(Pepy)}[\hbox {Cu}_{2}\hbox {Br}_{4}]\}_{\mathrm{n}}$$ [Pepy=1-2-(Pyridinium-1-yl)-1-ethenyl) pyridinium] based on vinylpyridinium cation and cuprous salts have been synthesized. They exhibited diverse structures and good photocatalytic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]