Iminophenol as a ligand or cation in cobalt(II and II,III) complexes: synthetic approaches, spectral and structural studies

Abstract

New complexes [H2L]2CoCl4 (І) and [CoІІCоІІІCl2L3]H2O (ІІ), where HL is a condensation product of o-vanillin and methylamine, were synthesized and characterized by IR, UV/Vis spectroscopies, and X-ray structural analysis. For the synthesis of I, cobalt (II) chloride was used as a metal source, while for II, cobalt powder and its salt were used simultaneously. In the preparation of I, the use of methylamine hydrochloride contributed to the formation of tetrachlorocobaltate(II) with the protonated Schiff base H2L+as a cation. The monovalent cations are almost planar and show the presence of intramolecular O/N–HО hydrogen bonds. In the crystal, columns of cations connected by - stacking alternate with double-row columns of tetrahedral [CoCl4]2– anions and are additionally joined by a branched system of O/N–HCl hydrogen bonds. Crystal II is built of neutral molecules CoІІСоІІІCl2L3 and uncoordinated water molecules. In the molecule, the main CoІІІL3 fragment with a metal atom in the octahedral environment of three deprotonated ligands attaches a cobalt(II) atom at the CoIICoIII distance of 3.17 Å. The cobalt(II) atom has a highly distorted five-coordinate СоІІО3Cl2 environment formed by two bridging oxygen atoms of deprotonated phenoxy groups, the O atom of the methoxy group of the ligands, and two chlorine atoms. The obtained results allow us to propose the use of the metal salt+its powder combination for the purposeful synthesis of mixed-valent complexes of metals capable of exhibiting various oxidation states. Deliberate protonation of the Schiff base can be used to prepare organic-inorganic metal halide hybrids with functionalized cations.