Synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical behavior of a cobalt(II) salen-like complex

A new tetradentate cobalt(II)–Schiff base complex has been synthesized via the reaction of the ligand 2,2′-((1E,1′E)-(ethane-1,2-diylbis(azanylylidene))bis(ethan-1-yl-1-ylidene))bis(4-((methyl(phenyl)amino)methyl)phenol) with a stoichiometric amount of cobalt(II) acetate tetrahydrate in absolute ethanol. This cobalt(II) complex has been characterized with the aid of several spectroscopic techniques (FT-IR, UV–Vis, and mass spectrometry) as well as by thermal (TGA and DTA) and elemental analysis. Cyclic voltammetry has been employed to examine the redox behavior of the cobalt(II) complex in dimethylformamide (DMF) containing 0.10 M tetra-n-butylammonium tetrafluoroborate (TBABF4). In addition, the electrogenerated cobalt(I) form of the complex has been (a) employed as a catalyst for the reduction of 1-iododecane and (b) compared with the behavior of cobalt(I) salen. Finally, the cobalt(II) complex has been subjected to anodic electropolymerization onto the surface of a glassy carbon electrode in DMF containing 0.10 M tetra-n-butylammonium perchlorate (TBAP).

Graphical abstractA new cobalt(II)–Schiff base complex has been prepared and characterized; its electrochemistry has been investigated, catalytic reduction of 1-iododecane by the corresponding electrogenerated cobalt(I) species has been probed, and the complex has been anodically polymerized onto glassy carbon.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide