Synthesis and crystal structures of mercury(II) and cadmium(II) coordination compounds using 4′-(4-pyridyl)-2,2′:6′,2′-terpyridine ligand and their thermolysis to nanometal oxides

• Two new complexes with the ligand pyterpy have been synthesized and characterized.
• The thermal stabilities of these compounds were studied by thermal gravimetric (TG) and the results were discussed.
• The cadmium(II) complex thermolysis leads to formation of cadmium oxide nano-particles.

Two new complexes with the ligand 4′-(4-pyridyl)-2,2′:6′,2′-terpyridine (pyterpy), [Hg(pyterpy)2](ClO4)2 and [Cd(pyterpy)2](ClO4)2⋅H2O, have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and structurally analyzed by X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The single crystal X-ray analysis shows that the coordination number in these complexes is six and the “pyterpy” ligand acts as a tridentate donor. The thermolysis studies show that the calcination of [Cd(pyterpy)2](ClO4)2⋅H2O leads to formation of cadmium oxide nano-particles while the calcination of mercury(II) complex does not form HgO as mercury evaporated before getting oxide.