Influence of structural variation of salamo‐based ligand on supramolecular architectures, Hirshfeld analyses, and fluorescence properties of new tetranuclear NiII complexes

Abstract

Two new tetranuclear NiII complexes, [Ni4(L1)2(N3)4(MeOH)2]·CH3COCH3 (1) and [Ni4(L2)2(N3)4(MeOH)2]·4CH3COCH3 (2), were synthesized using NiCl2·6H2O, NaN3, and asymmetric salamo‐based ligands H2L1 and H2L2, respectively. The structural characterization was made by elemental analyses, infrared (IR) and ultraviolet‐visible (UV‐vis) spectra, and X‐ray diffraction analyses. The results of X‐ray diffraction analyses show that the NiII atoms in complexes 1 and 2 are distorted octahedral geometries. Interestingly, the degree of distortion of the ligands in complexes 1 and 2 is different, which indicates that the interaction of NiII ions on different ligands is different. Meanwhile, the investigation of molecular packing by employing the Hirshfeld surface analysis exhibits that the percentages of C–H/H–C, O–H/H–O, and H–H/H–H contacts of the complex 1 (or 2) are calculated to be 17.7%, 7.9%, and 53.7% (or 18.8%, 13.8%, and 52.5%), respectively, where the H–H/H–H contacts have the characteristics of strong contacts whereas the O–H/H–O hydrogen bonds are considerably weak, and the studies on fluorescence properties further confirm the NiII atoms have different binding abilities to the different ligands.