Unusual silver coordination by mono-carboxylate utilization of a poly-carboxylate anion, solid-state structures of silver-tetrachlorophthalate with phthalazine and amine ligands

Silver carboxylate coordination with the tetrachlorophthalate anion, in combination with neutral donor ligands, has been found to deviate from other known poly-carboxylate complexes. Both complexes reported here, bis-[tetrachlorophthalato-silver phthalazine] and bis-[ammino-tetrachlorophthato-silver di-ammino-silver], utilize mixed carboxylate bonding types for silver coordination. In the case of the phthalazine ligand, both chelating and monodentate carboxylates form the framework for the oligomeric structure. In the case of the ammine ligand, one carboxylate forms a monodentate connection to a silver-ammine group, while the other is simply involved with hydrogen bonding to lock in a [(Ag-NH₃)₂-Ag-NH₃] substructure with an adjacent tetrachlorophthalato-silver unit. Both structures exhibit supramolecular connections via hydrogen bonding and π-π interactions.