Reversible and selective amine interactions of [Cd(mu2-N,O-p-NH2C6H4SO3)2(H2O)2]n

[Cd(mu2-N,O-p-NH2C6H4SO3)2(H2O)2]n (1) is a layered coordination compound. The solid-vapor reactions between crystalline 1 and a series of volatile amines were investigated and the corresponding amine adducts were characterized by EA, TGA, PXRD and IR. Among them, the C2H5NH2 and C3H7NH2 adducts, namely [Cd(C2H5NH2)4(H2O)2](H2NC6H4SO3)2 (3) and [Cd(C3H7NH2)4(O-p-H2NC6H4SO3)2].C3H7NH2 (4), grew into single crystals in situ from the solid-vapor reaction processes and their crystal structures were characterized. In both cases, 4 mol equiv. of amine molecules coordinate to Cd(II) via replacing the N,O-p-NH2C6H4SO3 ligands or coordinated water molecules. The single-phase product suggests that the solid-vapor reaction between the metal sulfonate and volatile alkylamines could be used as a green process to synthesize monoamine-coordinated Cd(II) complexes without any solvent and routine separation. Finally, the substitution reaction is reversible at room conditions and selective for primary alkylamines.