The tetratopic 1,4-bis(2-phenylethoxy)-2,5-bis(3,2':6',3''-terpyridin-4'-yl)benzene (1) and 1,4-bis(3-phenylpropoxy)-2,5-bis(3,2':6',3''-terpyridin-4'-yl)benzene (2) ligands have been prepared and fully characterised. Combination of ligand 1 or 2 and [M(hfacac)2]·xH2O (M = Cu, x = 1; M = Zn, x = 2) under conditions of crystal growth by layering led to the formation of [Cu2(hfacac)4(1)] n ·3.6n(1,2-Cl2C6H4)·2nCHCl3, [Zn2(hfacac)4(1)] n ·nMeC6H5·1.8nCHCl3, [Cu2(hfacac)4(2)] n ·nMeC6H5·2nH2O, [Cu2(hfacac)4(2)] n ·2.8nC6H5Cl and [Cu2(hfacac)4(2)] n ·2n(1,2-Cl2C6H4)·0.4nCHCl3·0.5nH2O. For each compound, single-crystal X-ray analysis revealed the assembly of a planar (4,4)-net in which the tetratopic ligands 1 or 2 define the nodes. The metal centres link two different bis(3,2':6',3''-tpy) ligands via the outer pyridine rings; whereas copper(ii) has N-donors in a trans-arrangement, zinc(ii) has them in cis. This difference between the copper(ii) and zinc(ii) coordination polymers modifies the architecture of the assembly without changing the underlying (4,4)-network.
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