The in situ hydrothermal reactions of ZnCl
2 with benzonitrile, 2-amino-5-cyanopyridine, and
trans-2,3-dihydro-2-(4' '-cyanophenyl)-benzo[
e]indole in the presence of NaN
3 and water afford two 3D-diamond-like networks,(CN
4-C
6H
5)
2Zn (
1) and (NH
2-C
5H
3N-CN
4)
2Zn (
2), and one 2D square grid network, [(CN
4-C
6H
4-C
12H
7N-C
5H
4N)
2Zn]·1.5H
2O (
3), in which these ligands gradually involve a noncenter-A-D (acceptor-donor) system, a one-center-A-D system, and a two-center-A-D system, respectively. All three compounds crystallize in noncentrosymmetricspace groups (
I2
d for
1 and
2 and
Fdd2 for
3) and display strong second harmonic generation (SHG) responses.Among the three new complexes,
3 shows the largest SHG effect, which is about 50 and 500 times that of ureaand KDP (KH
2PO
4), respectively. The two-center-A-D system (multicenter push-pull electronic effect) in
3 may beresponsible for it having the largest SHG effect. Interestingly, the three compounds exhibit strong fluorescent emissionsat different wavelengths,
1 and
2 with blue fluorescent emissions at 390 and 415 nm and
3 with yellow-greenfluorescent emissions at 495 and 532 nm.