Synthesis and crystal structures of mercury(II) and cadmium(II) coordination compounds using 4′-(4-pyridyl)-2,2′:6′,2′-terpyridine ligand and their thermolysis to nanometal oxides

•Two new complexes with the ligand pyterpy have been synthesized and characterized.•The thermal stabilities of these compounds were studied by thermal gravimetric (TG) and the results were discussed.•The cadmium(II) complex thermolysis leads to formation of cadmium oxide nano-particles.

Two new complexes with the ligand 4′-(4-pyridyl)-2,2′:6′,2′-terpyridine (pyterpy), [Hg(pyterpy)2](ClO4)2 and [Cd(pyterpy)2](ClO4)2⋅H2O, have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and structurally analyzed by X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The single crystal X-ray analysis shows that the coordination number in these complexes is six and the “pyterpy” ligand acts as a tridentate donor. The thermolysis studies show that the calcination of [Cd(pyterpy)2](ClO4)2⋅H2O leads to formation of cadmium oxide nano-particles while the calcination of mercury(II) complex does not form HgO as mercury evaporated before getting oxide.