Synthesis and characterization of homoleptic group 10 dithiocarbamate complexes and heteroleptic Ni(II) complexes, and the use of the homoleptic Ni(II) for the preparation of nickel sulphide nanoparticles

Abstract

A series of new dithiocarbamate complexes of Ni(II), Pd(II) and Pt(II) of the form [NiL2], [PdL2] and [PtL2] (where L = N-ethyl-N-ethanoldithiocarbamate) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, and 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The nickel complex was utilized to prepare heteroleptic complexes bearing triphenylphosphino (PPh3) and isothiocyanate (NCS) or isocyanide (NC) molecules. Furthermore, the structures of the palladium complex and the heteroleptic nickel with PPh3 and NC molecules have been confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The Pd(II) complex indicated a trans arrangement with a distorted square planar geometry around the Pd atom, while the Ni(II) complex revealed a highly distorted geometry with another molecule of triphenylphosphine moiety, held by hydrogen bonding, within the crystal structure. The thermal stability studies of all the complexes conducted by using thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) showed they all have good stability above 200 °C. The nanoparticles synthesized using the homoleptic nickel complex yielded platelets of pure Heazlewoodite phase of Ni3S2 with average size of 7.60 nm. The optical properties of the nanoparticles studied by using UV–vis spectroscopy showed band gap energy of 4.0 eV (355 nm), which was a blue shift of 1.90 eV compared to the bulk and a consequence of quantum confinement effect.