Nickel(II) Coordination Polymers – 4,4′‐Bipyridine‐Connected Six‐ and Four‐Fold Metal–Succinate Helices and Their Corresponding Chiral and Achiral Networks

The reaction of equimolar amounts of Ni(NO 3 ) 2 · 6H 2 O, Na 2 (suc) · 6H 2 O (suc = succinate) and 4,4′‐bipyridine (bipy) under different conditions yield the coordination polymers [Ni(suc)(bipy)(H 2 O) 2 ] n · 2 n H 2 O ( 1 ) and [Ni(suc)(bipy)(H 2 O) 2 ] n · n H 2 O ( 2 ). The complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, spectroscopic, thermogravimetric, and magnetic susceptibility measurements. Crystal structures reveal that the metal centers in both complexes are in a distorted octahedral N 2 O 4 coordination sphere assembled by mutually trans pairs of 4,4′‐bipyridine, succinate, and water molecules. The helical metal–succinate chains have a right‐handed sixfold configuration in 1 , with guest water molecules inside the helix, and both right‐ and left‐handed fourfold configurations in 2 , with guest water molecules outside the helix. The parallel helical substructures are connected by 4,4′‐bipyridine and provide 3D chiral 7 5 .9 and achiral 6 5 .8 networks in 1 and 2 , respectively.