The hydrothermal reaction of two new tetradentate ligands with different metal salts of cadmium nitrate, zinc chloride, cobalt nitrate and deprotonated terephthalic acid (H2tp), isophthalic acid (H2ip), 4,4′-oxybisbenzoic acid (H2obba) in H2O/DMF or H2O/methanol gave three metal–organic frameworks (MOFs): {[Zn2(L1)(tp)(formate)2]·H2O}n (1), {[Cd2(L2)(ip)2]·2H2O}n (2), {[Co2(L2)(obba)2]}n (3) (L1 = 1,2-bis {2,6-bis [(1H-imidazol-1-yl) methyl]-4-methylphenoxy} ethane, L2 = 1,3-bis {2,6-bis [(1H-imidazol-1-yl) methyl]-4-methylphenoxy} propane). The structures of the frameworks are established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compound 1 is a three-dimensional (3D) framework with a 2-fold interpenetrated form, which exhibits a 2-nodal (3,4)-connected fsh-3,4-P21/c net with a {83}2{85·10} topology. Compound 2 has a 2-nodal (4,8)-connected 3D framework where the dinuclear cadmium cluster secondary building units (SBUs) assemble with isophthalate and ligand L2 to construct a rare topological type sqc22 net with a {32·54}{34·44·510·610} topology. Whereas, Compound 3 can be extended to a 2D interlocked (4,4)-connected 4,4 L28 net with the point symbol {4·64·8}2{42·64}. L1 and L2 are tetradentate ligands with diverse linkers and display different coordination modes. In addition, the thermal stability and photochemical properties of the frameworks are also investigated.
