Two-step construction of molecular and polymeric mixed-metal Cu(Co)/Be complexes employing functionality of a pyridyl substituted acetylacetonateElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: synthesis and crystallography. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/dt/b2/b212733d/

The bifunctional exodentate ligand 3-(4-pyridyl)-2,4-pentanedione was exploited for the synthesis of mixed-metal (Co/Be and Cu/Be) and mixed-metal mixed-valence (CuICu11/Be) coordination compounds. The ligand was immobilized on a tetrahedral Be2+ matrix employing the β-diketonate function and the resulting complex BeL2 was used as an extended connector for generation of Co(Cu)/Be alternating superstructures utilizing the pyridyl donor sites. Coordination compounds adopt either molecular (Co{BeL2}2Cl2), and one- (Cu2X3{BeL2}2; X = Cl, Br) or two-dimensional (Co{BeL2}(CH3OH)2SO4, Cu2Br2{BeL2}2) polymeric patterns.