Syntheses, Crystal Structures, Weak Interactions, and Properties of Two Salts Containing Bis(maleonitriledithiolato)nickel/Palladium(II) Anion and Disubstituted Benzylpyridinium

Two new salts, [NO2BrBzPy]2[M(mnt)2] ([NO2BrBzPy]+= 1-(2′-bromo-4′-nitrobenzyl)pyridinium; mnt2−= maleonitriledithiolate; M = Ni(1), Pd(2)) have been prepared and characterized by elemental analyses, IR, UV, ESI-MS spectra, TG, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The results reveal that when the metal ion is changed from Ni(II) to Pd(II), the crystal system, and the dihedral angles between the phenyl and pyridine rings and the C-C-N reference plane of the cation, and the stacking modes of the anions and the cations are evidently different. Some weak interactions such as C–H···Br, C−H···O, C−H···N and C−H···S hydrogen bonds, p or stacking interactions in 1 and 2 play important roles in the molecular stacking and generate a 2D structure.