Synthesis, structure and characterization of three different dimension inorganic–organic hybrid vanadates: [Co 2 (mIM) 5 (H 2 O) 2 ]V 4 O 12 , [Ni 2 (mIM) 7 (H 2 O)]V 4 O 12 ·H 2 O and [Cd(eIM) 2 (H 2 O)]V 2 O 6

Three novel inorganic–organic hybrid vanadates [Co2(mIM)5(H2O)2]V4O12 (1), [Ni2(mIM)7(H2O)]V4O12·H2O (2) and [Cd(eIM)2(H2O)]V2O6 (3) (mIM = 1-methylimidazole, eIM = 1-ethylimidazole) with different dimension structures were prepared by a hydrothermal synthetic approach. The distinct dimensions of the hybrid vanadate architectures can be affected by changing the reactant molar ratio, ligands and temperature. All three compounds were fully characterized by single crystal XRD, EA, TGA, XPS, IR and UV/Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Compound 1 exhibits an interesting 3D chiral framework which was prepared without any chiral source species. Compound 2 shows an interesting 2D folded structure and compound 3 presents a ladder-shaped 1D chain configuration. The solid-state CD spectrum of crystal 1 reveals strong Cotton effects between 200–375 nm and confirms the chiral characteristics of compound 1.