Synthesis, crystal structures and theoretical studies of dinuclear Mn(II) and Ni(II) complexes of phenol-based “end-off” compartmental ligand

Two novel complexes [Mn2(phmp)2](ClO4)2 (1) and [Ni2(phmp)(μ-H2O)(H2O)4](NO3)3 (2) were synthesized using an “end-off” compartmental ligand [H-phmp = 4-Methyl-2,6-bis-(pyridin-2-yl-hydrazonomethyl)-phenol] with Mn(II)-perchlorate and Ni(II)-nitrate salts as metal precursors. Both these complexes were characterized by spectroscopic (IR, UV-Vis) and X-ray crystal structure analysis. The ligand, H-phmp acts as a pentadentate NNONN donor for both the metal complexes and the geometry of the complexes 1 and 2 is distorted octahedral. The DFT optimized bond distances and angles are well correlate to the X-ray structure bond parameters. For complex 1 the transitions at 435 nm and 428 nm have mixed MLCT (dπ(Mn) → π*(L)) and ILCT (π(L) → π*(L)) character whereas other transitions correspond to intra-ligand charge transfer transitions (ILCT). For complex 2, weak transitions at 464 and 405 nm correspond to ligand to metal charge transfer transitions (LMCT) (π(L) → dπ(Ni)) and most of the other transitions have ILCT character. As anticipated, various weak forces, i.e. anion-π/π-anion/anion-π/π-NH interactions as well as C-H/π interaction, play a key role in stabilizing the self-assembly process observed for both compounds.