A Facile Access to New Polymethylmethacrylate-Anchored Ferrocene Substituted Nickel(II) Unsymmetrical Schiff Base Complexes: Synthesis and Characterization

Abstract

This paper discloses two new side-chain metallopolymers containing an unsymmetrical organometallic Schiff base complex of Ni(II) linked to a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) matrix. The neutral ferrocene substituted Schiff base complex 1, Ni{CpFe(η5-C5H4)-C(O)CH=C(CH3)N–o-C6H4N=CH-(2-O,5-OH-C6H3)} where (Cp = η5-C5H5), was synthesized via template reaction by condensation of the tridentate half-unit metalloligand Fc-C(O)CH=C(CH3)-N(H)-o-C6H4NH2 (Fc = ferrocenyl = CpFe(η5-C5H4)) with 2,5-dihydroxybenzaldehyde in the presence of nickel(II) acetate tetrahydrate. The binuclear Schiff base complex of Ni(II) containing an aromatic free hydroxyl group was reacted under basic conditions with PMMA to afford, upon trans-esterification reaction, metallopolymers 2 (complex 1 monomeric unit/PMMA = 1/5) and 3 (complex 1 monomeric unit/PMMA = 1/3). Elemental analysis, FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopies, and cyclic voltammetry were utilized to characterize the newly synthetized compounds. Surface morphology of the metallopolymer film of 2 was studied using atomic force microscopy.