Synthesis, characterization and catalytic studies by zeolite encapsulated hexaazamacrocyclic complexes of nickel(II) and copper(II)

• Synthesis and characterization of hexaazamacrocyclic complexes of Ni(II) and Cu(II).
• Synthesis and characterization of zeolite encapsulated macrocyclic complexes.
• Characterization by spectral, thermal, sorption and microscopic techniques.
• Photocatalytic degradation of Reactive Red 198 and Phenol Red dyes.
• Comparative study of free and zeolite encapsulated complexes.

The nickel(II) and copper(II) complexes of the 16-membered 1,3,6,9,11,14-hexaazatricyclo[12.2.1.16,9]octadecane (THA) were synthesized by in situ one-pot template method. The nickel(II)THA and copper(II)THA complexes are represented as NTHA and CTHA respectively. The encapsulation of free complexes (FC) (i.e. NTHA and CTHA) in the cavities of zeolite-Y was achieved by ship-in-bottle method. The zeolite encapsulated metal complexes (ZEMC) are represented as NTHAY and CTHAY. The retention of the free complex with ZEMC was investigated by spectral, thermal, sorption and microscopic techniques (i.e., FTIR, ESI-mass, DRS/UV–visible, XPS, TGA, XRD, nitrogen adsorption isotherm, SEM and TEM). The NTHA, CTHA, NTHAY and CTHAY were employed as catalysts for the oxidation of Reactive Red 198 (RR) and Phenol Red (PR) dyes under UV irradiation. The ZEMC exhibits higher catalytic activity for the degradation of dyes, when compared to that of FC. The reusable photocatalysts show comparable activity to that of the fresh catalysts.

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