Structural variation in lead(II) dithiocarbamates and effect of synthesis temperature on lead sulfide nanoparticles

Abstract

Three lead(II) dithiocarbamate complexes of the type, [Pb(RR'dtc)2] (where RR'dtc = N-isoprpyl-N-(4-dimethylaminobenzyl)dithiocarbamate, N‑butyl‑N-(4-dimethylaminobenzyl)dithiocarbamate and N-(3-chlorobenzyl)-N-tetrahydrofuran-2-ylmethyl)dithiocarbamate for 1, 2 and 3, respectively) were prepared and characterized by FT-IR and NMR (1H and 13C{1H}) spectroscopic methods and X-ray structural analysis. As shown by X- ray crystallography, the coordination number of lead(II) in 1, 2 and 3 are five, six, and four, respectively. The theoretical study with density functional theory (DFT) has been utilized to optimize the structures of complexes 1–3 for HOMO-LUMO energy calculation. Various electronic properties, known as global reactive descriptors, have been calculated from HOMO-LUMO energies. Hirshfeld surface analysis indicates that the most significant contacts in packing are H…H, followed by S…H and C…H. Lead sulfide nanoparticles, PbS1 and PbS2 were prepared from complex 1 using solvothermal method under two different temperatures 60 °C and 100 °C, respectively. Morphology, composition, structure and optical properties were studied using Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Energy- Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and UV–Vis Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-DRS). In this work, we demonstrate the synthesis temperature has influence on morphologies, chemical composition and structural features. Both lead sulfide nanoparticles show good photocatalytic degradation capabilities toward methylene blue dye under UV light irradiation.