The crucial role of hydrogen bonding in shaping the structures of zinc-based coordination polymers using tridentate N, N, O donor reduced Schiff base ligands and bridging acetates.

In this manuscript we report the synthesis and characterization of two new polynuclear zinc(ii) complexes, [Zn 2 L 1 (μ-OAc) 3 ] n ·H 2 O (1) and [Zn 2 L 2 (μ-OAc) 3 ] n (2) using two tridentate ligands, HL 1 {4-chloro-2-(((2-(methylamino)ethyl)amino)methyl)phenol} and HL 2 {2,4-dibromo-6-(((3-(methylamino)propyl)amino)methyl)phenol}. The structures were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Both complexes form 1D chains. The energy of H-bonding interaction in the solid state structures of the complexes has been estimated by DFT calculation and the crucial role of hydrogen bonding in shaping their structures has been highlighted.