Emissive bis-salicylaldiminato Schiff base ligands and their zinc(II) complexes: Synthesis, photophysical properties, mesomorphism and DFT studies

• Synthesis of new polar salicylaldiminato ligands and their Zn(II) complexes.
• Salicylaldiminato ligand and its Zn(II) complex having 4-n-octyloxy chain length are mesogenic in nature.
• Salicylaldiminato ligands and their Zn(II) complexes exhibit fluorescent behavior.
• DFT studies to explore the electronic transitions.

Bis-salicylaldiminato Schiff base ligands and their Zn(II) complexes derived from 2,3-Diaminomaleonitrile (DAMN) were synthesized. Their molecular structures, photophysical properties and mesogenic behaviors were investigated. The ligands and their Zn(II) complexes were characterized by using elemental analysis, FT-IR, 1H NMR and molar conductivity measurements. Photophysical properties of ligands and their Zn(II) complexes were investigated in different polar solvents by using UV–visible and fluorescence spectroscopic studies. Ligands emit green light whereas complexes emit orange light upon irradiation with UV–visible light. The liquid crystalline phases of ligands and their Zn(II) complexes were characterized by polarizing optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The ligand having longer 4-n-octadecyloxy chain (n = 18) displays columnar phase whereas the lower homologues (n = 16, 12) did not show mesophase. The Zn(II) complexes having 4-n-octadecyloxy end chain display smectic B like phase whereas other lower homologues are non mesogenic in nature. The thermal stability of the compounds were studied by using thermo gravimetric analysis. The density functional theory was carried out to obtain the stable molecular conformation, dipole moment, molecular orbitals and polarizability of the ligands and their Zn(II) complexes.

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