Double azido/cyanato bridged copper(II) dimers incorporating tridentate nitrogen donors Schiff base: Structure, EPR and magnetic studies.

A neutral tridentate nitrogen donor Schiff base ligand L (L = (E)-N-(phenyl(pyridin-2-yl)methylene)-2-(pyridin-2-yl)ethanamine) has been synthesized and characterized by spectroscopic techniques, and employed to synthesize two new μ 1,1 -azido/cyanato bridged dinuclear copper(II) complexes, [Cu(L)( μ 1,1 -N 3 )(ClO 4 )] 2 ( 1 ) and [Cu(L)( μ 1,1 -NCO)(ClO 4 )] 2 ( 2 ). Both compounds have been spectroscopically and structurally characterized. Structural investigation reveals centro-symmetric nature of the complexes in which the center of inversion lies at the midpoint of the two copper(II) ions. The metal ions display distorted octahedral geometry. The tridentate neutral ligand L coordinates the metal ion in mer -orientation. Crystal packing reveals that hydrogen bonding and π ⋯ π stacking interactions play a dominant role on the solid state structure of the complexes. Low temperature susceptibility measurements support EPR studies and reveal antiferromagnetic ( J = −7.2 cm –1 ) and ferromagnetic ( J = +0.41 cm –1 ) behavior for 1 and 2 , respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]