Structural and spectroscopic characterization of a new luminescent Ni-II complex: bis{2,4-dichloro-6-[(2-hydroxypropyl)iminomethyl]-phenolato-kappa O-3, N, O '}nickel(II)

Abstract

The design and preparation of transition-metal complexes with Schiff base ligands are of interest due to their potential applications in the fields of molecular magnetism, nonlinear optics, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), sensing and photoluminescence. Luminescent metal complexes have been suggested as potential phosphors in electroluminescent devices. A new luminescent nickel(II) complex, [Ni(C10H10Cl2NO2)(2)], has been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and elemental analysis, UV-Vis, FT-IR, H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR and photoluminescence spectroscopies, and LC-MS/MS. Molecules of the complex in the crystals lie on special positions, on crystallographic binary rotation axes. The Ni-II atoms are six-coordinated by two phenolate O, two imine N and two hydroxy O atoms from two tridentate Schiff base 2,4-dichloro-6-[(2-hydroxypropyl) iminomethyl] phenolate ligands, forming an elongated octahedral geometry. Furthermore, the complex exhibits a strong green luminescence emission in the solid state at room temperature, as can be seen from the (CIE) chromaticity diagram, and hence the complex may be a promising green OLED (organic light-emitting diode) in the development of electroluminescent materials for flat-panel-display applications.