Synthesis, crystal structures, optical properties, DFT and TD-DFT studies of Ni (II) complexes with imine-based ligands

Abstract

Two new square-planar nickel (II) complexes were synthesized from (2-((E)-(9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-7-ylimino)methyl)phenol) and (1-((E)-(9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-7-ylimino)methyl)naphthalen-2-ol) ligands, for complex I and complex II, respectively. They were characterized by IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Further measurements were also conducted as cyclic voltammetry and conductivity measurements. Both complexes crystallize in the monoclinic system with the space groups P21/n and P21/c for complex I and complex II, respectively. The electronic absorption spectrum of complex I exhibits the lowest-lying absorption band (LEB) at 381 nm and the highest energy absorption band (HEB) at 269 nm. For complex II, the LEB was located at 431 nm while the HEB was found to be at 260 nm. Theoretical structure geometries, vibrational frequencies and electronic properties of the two complexes were calculated, by means of the density functional theory (DFT). The basis set 6-31g+(d) was chosen, for non-metal atoms (C, H, N and O) and the Stuttgart/Dresden effective core potentials basis set (SDD), for Ni atoms. UV-Vis transitions nature was investigated via a time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculation. Overall, theoretical calculations were in accordance with the experimental results.