Although zeolites and related materials combine nanoporosity with high thermal stability, they are difficult to modify or derivatize in a systematic way. A highly porous metal coordination polymer [Cu3(TMA)2(H2O)3]n (where TMA is benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate) was formed in 80 percent yield. It has interconnected [Cu2(O2CR)4] units (where R is an aromatic ring), which create a three-dimensional system of channels with a pore size of 1 nanometer and an accessible porosity of about 40 percent in the solid. Unlike zeolites, the channel linings can be chemically functionalized; for example, the aqua ligands can be replaced by pyridines. Thermal gravimetric analysis and high-temperature single-crystal diffractometry indicate that the framework is stable up to 240 degreesC.

The synthesis and characterization of a novel series of tetrachlorocuprate salts, based on N-alkylpyridinium cations ([Cn−Py]+), are described. The [Cn−Py]2[CuCl4] salts (n = 6, 9−18) were found to be crystalline solids except for the short-chain homologues (n = 6, 9, 10), which were obtained as viscous liquids. X-ray powder diffraction measurements showed that in the crystalline state the ionic species give rise to layered structures. An X-ray crystal structure study of [C15−Py]2[CuCl4] also confirmed the lamellar packing and revealed the monolayer type of organization with strong interdigitation and canting of N-alkyl chains. Most solid salts (n ≥ 12) are thermotropic liquid crystals, with hexagonal columnar, cubic, and smectic phases appearing in the order of increasing chain length and/or temperature. This unique phase behavior has been undoubtedly proved by optical, calorimetric, and diffractometric techniques. The details of the structural organization in both the columnar and cubic phases are not entirely defined yet.

Conditions are reported for the facile, high-yielding coupling of acyl chlorides with terminal alkynes in a reaction involving palladium and copper iodide; the reaction is tolerant of a wide variety of acyl chlorides and terminal alkynes and provides a convenient one-pot route to acetylenic ketones.

The homoleptic high-nuclearity platinum−copper acetylide complex of stoichiometry [PtCu2(C⋮CPh)4] crystallizes in at least three different polymorphic forms. Dark violet-green crystals with metallic reflectance have been shown by an X-ray diffraction study to be formed by discrete trimers of an hexanuclear octahedral cluster unit {[Pt2Cu4(C⋮CPh)8]}3 stabilized by two unsupported Pt−Pt interactions [2.995(1) Å]. The photoluminescence behavior of this complex which is dramatically influenced by strong axial Pt···Pt interactions either in solid state or in solution (CH2Cl2 298, 77 K) has been studied.