Nanoparticles and nanocrystals of a new bidentate nickel(II) complex of N-[ethyl(propan-2-yl)carbamothioyl]-4-nitrobenzamide: synthesis, characterization, and crystal structures

Abstract

The nickel(II) complex of N-[ethyl(propan-2-yl)carbamothioyl]-4-nitrobenzamide has been synthesized and characterized by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry (atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry). The single-crystal X-ray structures of N-[ethyl(propan-2-yl)carbamothioyl]-4-nitrobenzamide (1) and bis[N-[ethyl(propan-2-yl)carbamothioyl]-4-nitrobenzamide]nickel(II) (2) have been determined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. Loss of the N–H proton resonance and the N–H stretching vibration and the shift of the ν_C=O and ν_C=S stretching vibrations confirm formation of the metal complex. These studies show that the metal complex is neutral in cis-configuration. The complex has been used as a single-source precursor for the deposition of nickel sulfide nanocrystals by thermolysis. The nickel sulfide nanocrystals were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and transmission electron microscopy.

Keywords:

• Nickel complex
• Crystal structure
• Cis-configuration
• Nanoparticles
• Nanocrystals
• p-XRD
• TEM

Acknowledgment

The authors are thankful to Dr. Alan Harvey, School of Materials Science, The University of Manchester, UK for helping in Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) image. JPJ acknowledges the NSF-MRI program (grant No. CHE1039027) for funds to purchase the X-ray diffractometer.