Crystal structure of an HgII coordination polymer with an unsymmetrical dipyridyl ligand: catena-poly[[[di­chlorido­mercury(II)]-μ-N-(pyridin-4-ylmeth­yl)pyridin-3-amine-κ2 N:N′] chloro­form hemisolvate]

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, {[HgLCl2]·0.5CHCl3} n (L = N-(pyridin-4-ylmeth-yl)pyridin-3-amine, C11H11N3), contains one HgII ion, one bridging L ligand, two chloride ligands and a chloro-form solvent mol-ecule with half-occupancy that is disordered about a crystallographic twofold rotation axis. Each HgII ion is coordinated by two pyridine N atoms from two symmetry-related L ligands and two chloride anions in a highly distorted tetra-hedral geometry with bond angles falling in the range 99.05 (17)-142.96 (7)°. Each L ligand bridges two HgII ions, forming polymeric zigzag chains propagating in [010]. In the crystal, the chains are linked by inter-molecular N/C-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds together with weak C-H⋯π inter-actions, resulting in the formation of a three-dimensional supra-molecular network, which is further stabilized by C-Cl⋯π inter-actions between the solvent chloro-form mol-ecules and the pyridine rings of L [chloride-to-centroid distances = 3.442 (11) and 3.626 (13) Å]. In addition, weak Cl⋯Cl contacts [3.320 (5) Å] between the chloro-form solvent mol-ecules and the coordinating chloride anions are also observed.