Synthesis of New Zirconium(IV) Complexes with Amino Acid Schiff Bases: Spectral, Molecular Modeling, and Fluorescence Studies

New zirconium(IV) complexes were synthesized with bidentate ligands and characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductance measurements, molecular weight determinations, IR, electronic, NMR (1H and 13C), fluorescence and molecular modeling studies. All the complexes are 1 : 2 electrolytes in nature and may be formulated as [Zr(L)2Cl2] (where L is Schiff bases of amino acids and substituted isatin). The analytical data showed that the Schiff-base ligand acts as bidentate toward zirconium ion via the azomethine nitrogen and carboxylate oxygen. The conductivity values between 8.5–12.6 Ω−1, mol−1, cm2 in DMF imply the presence of nonelectrolyte species. On the basis of spectral and molecular modeling studies, the resulting complexes are proposed to have octahedral geometries.