Zinc and cadmium halide compounds with the tridentate ligand 2-(methylsulfanyl)-N-(pyridin-2-ylmethylidene)aniline showing yellow luminescence

Five mononuclear complexes, i.e. ZnLCl2 (1), [ZnLBr2](CH3CN) (2), ZnLBr2 (3), CdLCl2 (4), and CdLBr2 (5), with L = 2-(methylsulfanyl)-N-(pyridin-2-ylmethylidene)aniline, have been synthesized and characterized. For [ZnLBr2](CH3CN) only a few crystals were obtained from the main batch of ZnLBr2. Their crystal structures and solid-state luminescence properties both at room temperature and 77 K have been investigated. All compounds contain 5-coordinated Zn(II) or Cd(II) ions in a square-pyramidal geometry, distorted towards trigonal bipyramidal. The phase purity of all compounds has been evaluated by Powder XRD and IR. All five compounds show photoluminescent properties both at room temperature and 77 K. In the solid state, the compounds exhibit yellow luminescence with the maximum of emission at around 540 nm. By cooling down to 77 K, the shape and position of the emission spectra of all these compounds remains more or less constant.

Graphical abstractFive-coordinated zinc and cadmium complexes with the ligand 2-(methylsulfanyl)-N-(pyridin-2-yl-methylidene)aniline have been synthesized, and characterized by NMR, IR, elemental analysis, X-ray crystallography, Powder XRD and luminescence.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide