Host-Guest Symmetry and Charge Matching in Glycine-Templated Metal Sulfate-Oxalates Obtained by a Solvent-Free Method.

Two metal sulfate-oxalates, (Hgly)2·Zn(SO4)(C2O4) (1) and Hgly·In(SO4)(C2O4)(gly) (2), were prepared under solvent-free conditions, where gly = glycine. They have similar layered structures despite the fact that aliovalent metal ions are used as structural nodes. Notably, glycine molecules play dual roles as a protonated cation and a zwitterionic ligand in compound 2. The two compounds display moderate second-harmonic-generation (SHG) responses, confirming their noncentrosymmetric structures. Theoretical calculations were performed to reveal the origin of their SHG responses.