Olefinic
coordination polymers (CPs) have recently drawn more attention,
owing to the many possibilities in conformational conversions and
photochemical reactivity that olefin molecules offer. In the presence
of different carboxylic acids, we utilize one diolefin ligand 4,4′-((1E,1′E)-(2,5-dimethoxyl-1,4-phenylene)bis(ethene-2,1-diyl))dipyridine
(OCH3-bpeb) and Cd(II) to assemble six different crystalline
CPs (1–6). By fine-tuning the substituent
size, carboxyl group number, and geometrical configuration of carboxylate
ligands, these diolefin CPs show quite different crystal architecture
models, from one-dimensional intersecting stacking to one-dimensional
parallel stacking to three-dimensional interpenetrated structure.
Of these, four kinds of CPs (1, 2, 5, and 6) are demonstrated to be photoreactive
for [2 + 2] cycloaddition reactions, as confirmed by proton nuclear
magnetic resonance and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Both 2 and 5 can be dimerized into different cyclobutane
products in a single-crystal-to-single-crystal manner under visible
light, and remarkably, the photocycloaddition reaction of 5 involves a rare phase transition with structural symmetry enhancement
from P
1̅ to P2/n. This work demonstrates the power of carboxylate ligands
in tuning single crystal structures and photocycloaddition reactions
of CPs, which provides important references for the further exploration
of other physicochemical properties of functionalized olefin-containing
complexes.