In complex 1, four tbip2– ligands act as bridges between four neighboring Zn atoms to form an unusual tetranuclear zinc cluster. <...> The clusters are further connected by two types of O—H O and C—H O hydrogen bonds, generating a three-dimensional supramolecular structure. <...> Meanwhile, — stacking interactions and C—H interactions further consolidate the three-dimensional supramolecular framework of 1. <...> In addition, the luminescence measurements reveal that complex 1 exhibits strong fluorescent emissions in the solid state at room temperature. <...> The design and synthesis of coordination polymers is an attractive area of research not only due to their intriguing structures but also their potential applications in optics, magnetism, gas storage, ion exchange, catalysis, etc. [ 1—3]. <...> The most effective and facile approach to coordination polymers is to utilize multi-pyridine and dicarboxylate ligands to link metal ions, giving innite frameworks [ 4—6 ]. <...> Owing to an excellent coordination ability and a large conjugated system, 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) has been widely used to build coordination polymers [ 7, 8 ]. <...> Since carboxylate groups have an excellent coordination ability and flexible coordination patterns, isophthalic acid has also been widely used in the construction of metal-organic frameworks [ 9, 10 ]. <...> Here, we selected 5-tert-butyl isophthalic acid (H2tbip) as an organic linker and 3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (tmphen) as an N-donor chelating ligand, generating a new Zn(II) coordination complex [Zn4(tmphen)4(tbip)4(H2O)4] 1. <...> The IR spectra were obtained within the 400—4000 cm–1 as KBr disks on a VECTOR 22 spectrometer. <...> An emission spectrum was recorded on a Hitachi F-4500 fluorescence spectrophotometer, using a slit width of 5 nm excitation at room temperature for the solid samples. <...> All H atoms were refined isotropically with the isotropic vibration parameters related to the nonH atom to which they are bonded. <...> As shown in Fig. 1, complex 1 crystallizes in the triclinic space group 1P with an asymmetric unit comprising two crystallographically distinct divalent zinc atoms (Zn1, Zn2), two doubly deprotonated bridging tbip dianions (type A, O1—O4; type B, O7 <...>