Anion effects on construction of cadmium(II) compounds with a chelating ligand bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine: Their photoluminescence and catalytic activities

Abstract

Four new structures of Cd II complexes containing bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine (bispicam) ligands have been determined. Chloride anions bridge two Cd II ions to form a dinuclear complex [(Cd(bispicam)Cl) 2(μ 2-Cl 2)] (1), and bromide and iodide ions produce two halide-coordinated [Cd(bispicam)X 2] complexes (X = Cl for 2 and Br for 3). Nitrate anions produce both nitrate-coordinated [Cd(bispicam) 2(NO 3)] + and simple [mer-Cd(bispicam) 2] 2+ with three nitrate counter-anions (4). These results indicate that anion effects play very important roles for construction of crystal structures and geometrical isomerism. Moreover, the homogeneous catalyst [Cd(bispicam) 2] (ClO 4) 2 (5) catalyzed efficiently the transesterification of a variety of esters with methanol, while rest of the complexes have displayed very slow conversions. Furthermore, 1-5 showed the intense emissions at room temperature, which could be used as a good candidate for a potential hybrid inorganic-organic photoactive material. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.