By the reaction of different aromatic dicarboxylic acid with zinc nitrate, three metal-carboxylate frameworks, [Zn3（BDC）3（EtOH）2]（1）, [Zn3（BDC）3（py）2]·2DMF（2）, and [Zn3（NH2-BDC）3（H2O）2]·5DMF（3） which are constructed on the same linear trinuclear Zn3（RCOO）6 secondary building units, have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction analyses. Structural analyses showed that there are terephthalic acids as ligand linkers to form the hxl topological layer structures for 1 and 2. The introduction of the rigid aromatic ring pyridine in 2 as the terminal co-ligand of Zn3-SBU to instead of the flexible ethanol in 1, will form the layer-pillared supramolecular systems with 2-D crisscross channels, through its π-π stacking interactions. Owing to the steric hindrance of amino groups, 3 was assembled into a three-dimensional porous structure with pcu topology derived from the 2-amino-terephthalic acid as linkers to connect the Zn3-SBUs through a head-to-tail type.
