Heterometallic carboxylate complexes are of paramount interest in pure and applied coordination chemistry. Despite that plurality of such type compounds have been published to date, synthetic aspects of their chemistry often remain in the shadow of intriguing physical properties manifesting by these species. Present review summarizes reliable data on direct synthesis of low nuclearity molecular compounds as well as coordination polymers on their base with carboxylate-bridged {M₂Mg} (M = Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cd²⁺), {M₂Li₂} (M = Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Zn²⁺, VO²⁺), {M₂Ln₂} and {M₂Ln} (M = Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Co²⁺) metal cores. Structural features and stabilization factors are considered and principal outcomes are confirmed by quantum-chemical calculations. Particular attention is paid to consideration of ligand-exchange reactions that allow controllable modification of heterometallic metal core under mild conditions giving diverse molecular complexes with modified ligand environment or Metal-Organic Frameworks with permanent porosity.

Varying the temperature of the reaction of [{Cd(pfb)(H₂O)₄}⁺_n·n(pfb)⁻], [Ln₂(pfb)₆(H₂O)₈]·H₂O (Hpfb = pentafluorobenzoic acid), and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) in MeCN followed by crystallization resulted in the isolation of two type of products: 1D-polymers [LnCd(pfb)₅(phen)]_n·1.5nMeCN (Ln = Eu (I), Gd (II), Tb (III), Dy (IV)) which were isolated at 25 °C, and molecular compounds [Tb₂Cd₂(pfb)₁₀(phen)₂] (V) formed at 75 °C. The transition from a molecular to a polymer structure becomes possible because of intra- and intermolecular interactions between the aromatic cycles of phen and pfb from neighboring tetranuclear Ln₂Cd₂ fragments. Replacement of cadmium with zinc in the reaction resulted in molecular compounds Ln₂Zn₂ [Ln₂Zn₂(pfb)₁₀(phen)₂]·4MeCN (Ln = Eu (VI), Tb (VIII), Dy (IX)) and [Gd₂Zn₂(pfb)₁₀(H₂O)₂(phen)₂]·4MeCN (VII). A new molecular EuCd complex [Eu₂Cd₂(pfb)₁₀(phen)₄]·4MeCN (X)] was isolated from a mixture of cadmium, zinc, and europium pentafluorobenzoates (Cd:Zn:Ln = 1:1:2). Complexes II-IV, VII and IX exhibit magnetic relaxation at liquid helium temperatures in nonzero magnetic fields. Luminescent studies revealed a bright luminescence of complexes with europium(III) and terbium(III) ions.

Heterometallic {Eu₂Cd₂} complexes [Eu₂(NO₃)₂Cd₂(Phen)₂(2,4-Nbz)₈]_n·2nMeCN (I) and [Eu₂(MeCN)₂Cd₂(Phen)₂(3,5-Nbz)₁₀] (II) with the 2,4-dinitrobenzoate (2,4-Nbz) and 3,5-dinitrobenzoate (3,5-Nbz) anions and 1,10-phenanthroline were synthesized. The compounds obtained were characterized by X-ray single-crystal analysis, powder X-ray diffraction analysis, IR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. Moreover, the thermal stability of the complexes was also studied. Analysis of the crystal packing showed that where 1,10-phenanthroline is combined with various isomers of dinitrobenzoate anions, different arrangements of non-covalent interactions are observed in the complex structures. In the case of the compound with the 2,4-dinitrobenzoate anion, these interactions lead to a significant distortion of the metal core geometry and formation of a polymeric structure, while the complex with the 3,5-dinitrobenzoate anion has a structure that is typical of similar systems. The absence of europium metal-centered luminescence at 270 nm wavelength was shown. For all the reported compounds, a thermal stability study was carried out that showed that the compounds decomposed with a significant thermal effect.