Synthesis, crystal structure and fluorescence properties of two dinuclear zinc(II) complexes incorporating tridentate (NNO) Schiff bases

Abstract

Reactions of hydrated zinc(II) trifluoroacetate and sodium azide with two tridentate Schiff bases HL¹ (2-((E)-(2-(dimethylamino)ethylimino)methyl)-4-chlorophenol) and HL² (2-((E)-(2-(dimethylamino)ethylimino)methyl)-4-bromophenol) under the same reaction conditions yielded two dinuclear isostructural zinc(II) complexes, [Zn(L¹)(N₃)]₂ (1) and [Zn(L²)(N₃)]₂ (2), respectively. The complexes were characterized systematically by elemental analysis, UV–Vis, FT-IR, and ¹H NMR spectroscopic methods. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies reveal that each of the dinuclear complexes consists of two crystallographically independent zinc(II) ions connected by double bridging phenoxides. All zinc(II) ions in 1 and 2 are surrounded by similar donor sets and display distorted square–pyramidal coordination geometries. The ligands and complexes reveal intraligand ¹(π → π*) flourescence. The enhancement of the fluorescence intensities for the complexes compared to the ligands indicates their potential to serve as photoactive materials.

Keywords:

• Dinuclear zinc(II) complexes
• tridentate Schiff bases: characterization
• crystal structure
• fluorescence

Acknowledgment

S. Shit gratefully acknowledgs the financial assistance from University Grants Commission, New Delhi, India (Minor Research Project No. F. PSW–65/12–13 (ERO)). W. Schmitt acknowledges the Science Foundation Ireland for financial support.