Differential study on the transition from a new polyhalogen-substituted unsymmetric salamo-based ligand to its Cu(II) and Co(II) complexes

Abstract

Two structurally different Cu(II) and Co(II) complexes, [Cu(L)] (1) and [Co2(L)2]⋅2CH3OH (2), constructed from a new polyhalogen-substituted unsymmetric salamo-based ligand (H2L, 4-chloro-4′-bromo-6-bromo-6′-tert-butyl-2,2′-[ethylenedioxybis(nitrilomethylidyne)]diphenol) were synthesized by wet-chemical methods. Complexes 1 and 2 were characterized through elemental analyses, IR and UV-vis spectroscopies and single crystal X-ray crystallography. In addition, the differences of the structures, electronic absorption characteristics and fluorescence property transitions from the ligand to complexes 1 and 2 were studied. The largest difference is that the ligand H2L can react with M(OAc)2 (M = Cu(II) and Co(II)) to give two complexes with distinct structures and behaviors. There are two chemically identical but crystallographically independent structural units (molecules A and B) in 1. Moreover, each Cu(II) ion (Cu1 or Cu2) is four-coordinate and possesses a square planar geometry, but both Co(II) ions of 2 are bridged by phenoxide ions and possess five-coordinate trigonal bipyramidal configurations. At the same time, Hirshfeld surface analyses showed there are short-range interaction features from the ligand to complexes 1 and 2, the O···H/H···O interactions of the ligand are significantly stronger than those of 1 and 2.