Ferrocene-based ligands 1, 1'-di(pyrazinyl)ferrocene (L1) and 1, 1'-di(2-pyrimidinyl)ferrocene (L2) were synthesized and copper and silver complexes were obtained from L1. Coordination polymers [{Cu(2)(PhCOO)(4)}(L1)](n) (1), [{Cu(2)(C(5)H(11)COO)(4)}(L1)](n) (2), and [{Cu(2)(OAc)(4)}(L1)](n)center dot 0.5n[Cu(2)(OAc)(4)(H(2)O)(2)]center dot 1.5nCH(3)CN (3) resulted from the reaction with the corresponding copper carboxylates. In all three complexes, L1 links the dinuclear copper carboxylate units to form one-dimensional step-like chains. In 2, these chains are further linked by [Cu(2)(OAc)(4)(H(2)O)(2)] dinuclear units via hydrogen bonding to form sheet structures. The reaction of L1 with copper(I) iodide resulted in a multinuclear complex [(CuI)(4)(L1)(2)]center dot(L1) (4), which contains a [(CuI)(4)(L1)(2)] diferrocene unit with a step-like (CuI)(4) core. Reactions of L1 with silver(I) salts resulted in silver-bridged diferrocenes [Ag(2)(L1)(2)]X(2) (X = ClO(4) (5a, b), NO(3) (6a-c) and PF(6) (7)), some of which incorporate aromatic solvents into their crystal lattices. The intramolecular Ag center dot center dot center dot Ag separations in these metallamacrocycles (3.211-3.430 angstrom) depended upon the counter-anions and on the coordination mode of the silver ions. In all of these coordination complexes, L1 adopts a synperiplanar eclipsed conformation and acts as a bidentate ligand, with only the 5-nitrogen of each pyrazine ring involved in coordination.
