Zinc acetylacetonate hydrate adducted with nitrogen donor ligands: Synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, and thermal analysis

•Synthesis of zinc acetylacetonate complex adducted with nitrogen donor ligands.•Investigation of spectroscopic and thermal properties of adducted zinc acetylacetonate.•Thermal properties can be tuned by variation of the adducted ligands.•The derived zinc acetylacetonate complexes are suitable precursor for MOCVD.

We report synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, and thermal analysis of zinc acetylacetonate complex adducted by nitrogen donor ligands, such as pyridine, bipyridine, and phenanthroline. The pyridine adducted complex crystallizes to monoclinic crystal structure, whereas other two adducted complexes have orthorhombic structure. Addition of nitrogen donor ligands enhances the thermal property of these complexes as that with parent metal-organic complex. Zinc acetylacetonate adducted with pyridine shows much higher volatility (106 °C), decomposition temperature (202 °C) as that with zinc acetylacetonate (136 °C, 220 °C), and other adducted complexes. All the adducted complexes are thermally stable, highly volatile and are considered to be suitable precursors for metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The formation of these complexes is confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. The complexes are widely used as starting precursor materials for the synthesis of ZnO nanostructures by microwave irradiation assisted coating process.