Solvent Directed Synthesis of Molecular Cage and Metal Organic Framework of Copper(II) Paddlewheel Cluster

A solvothermal reaction of a clip‐type dicarboxylic acid H 2 DCA [3,3′‐((5‐nitroisophthaloyl)bis(azanediyl))‐dibenzoic acid] and Cu(NO 3 ) 2 in equimolar ratio in dimethylformamide (DMF) yielded MOF(CuCG1) which was formed by interlinking [4+2] self‐assembled polyhedral cages via coordination between amide moiety present in the linker and the axial position of copper paddlewheel Cu 2 (CO 2 ) 4 . Upon a change in the solvent from DMF to DMA [dimethylacetamide] the interlinking among the polyhedra was successfully terminated to get single crystals of a discrete coordination cage with DMA bound to axial position of Cu(II) ( CuCG2 ). Similar termination of the interlinking was also achieved by a fast crystallization process to get discrete architecture CuCG1 .