The reaction of Cu (II) or Cd (II) salts with 2, 4, 6-iPr3C6H2PO3H2, 2, 4, 6- iPr3C6H2CH2PO3H2 or 2, 6-iPr2C6H3OPO3H2 in the presence of strong chelating nitrogen ligands such as 2, 2′-bipyridine (bpy), 1, 10-phenanthroline (phen), 2- pyridylpyrazole (pypz) or 3, 5-dimethyl pyrazole (dmpz) as the ancillary ligands afforded dinuclear copper or cadmium complexes [Cu2 (2, 4, 6-iPr3C6H2PO3H) 4 (bpy) 2](4),[Cu2 ...