Syntheses, crystal structures and photoluminescent properties of new heteroleptic Ni(II) and Pd(II) complexes of ferrocene functionalized dithiocarbamate-and dipyrromethene ligands

•Ferrocene functionalized dithiocarbamate/dipyrromethene Ni(II), Pd(II) complexes.•Palladium complex showed luminescent property.•Structures stabilized via secondary interactions resulting supramolecular motifs.

Two new heteroleptic complexes, [Ni(Fcdpm)(Fcdtc)] 1 and [Pd(Fcdpm)(Fcdtc)] 2 (Fcdpm = 5-Ferrocenyl dipyrromethene, Fcdtc = N-benzyl-N-ferrocenylmethyl dithiocarbamate) have been prepared by the reaction of precursor homoleptic complexes [M(Fcdtc)2] (M = Ni(II), Pd(II)) and the ligand Fcdpm and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, 1H and 13C NMR and UV–vis. spectroscopy. Their structures have been elucidated by X-ray crystallography. In both complexes, 1 and 2 the central metal lies at the center of a distorted square plane chelated by nitrogen atoms of the Fcdpm and sulfur atoms of the Fcdtc ligands. In both complexes the structures are stabilized via CH···S and CH···π secondary interactions resulting in 1D supramolecular motifs. The palladium complex 2 shows luminescent emission in solution.

Graphical abstractLuminescent [Ni/Pd(Fcdpm)(Fcdtc)] complexes.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide