A new application of salamo-type compounds: As a photocatalyst of designed self-assembling Cu(II) dimer and tetranuclear Co(II) cuboidal cluster.

• The compound HL1 can spontaneously catalyze during coordination self-assembly. • Co(II) ions and tri-bridged o atoms in complex 2 form a novel cuboidal structure. • Dimer 1 and cluster 2 exhibit efficient dye degradations. The design and synthesis of structurally rich chemical materials for detection, analysis, and purification is challenging. In this regard, two functional 3d metal(II) complexes bearing the half-salamo-type compound HL1 (2-[ O -(1- ethyloxyamide)]oxime-3‑methoxy-5‑bromo-phenol) have been synthesized, namely: [Cu 2 (L2) 2 ]·2CH 3 CN (1) and [Co 4 (L2) 4 (CH 3 CH 2 OH) 4 ] (2). Complexes 1 and 2 were fully characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, and FT-IR and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The crystal structure analysis revealed that complex 1 is a centrosymmetric oxo-bridged Cu(II) dimer formed by connecting two metalloligand [Cu(L2)] units. The coordination self-assembly in complex 2 was triggered to obtain a unique tetranuclear Co(II) cuboidal cluster of S 4 symmetry based on a [Co(L2)] metalloligand unit. The experimental results showed that HL1 spontaneously catalyzes the formation of new compound H 2 L2 during the formation of complexes 1 and 2. The photocatalytic degradation properties of dimer 1 and cluster 2 were investigated for several dye pollutants: methyl orange (MO), methylene blue (MB), and Rhodamine B (RhB) under H 2 O 2 initiation. Additionally, DFT calculations were performed to further understand the structure-property relationship between the electron characteristics and the photocatalytic degradation behaviors. Oxo-bridged half-salamo-type Cu(II) dimer and tetranuclear Co(II) cuboidal cluster have been successfully developed as a photocatalytic platform for efficient degradation of MB, MO, and RhB dyes. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]