Synthesis and structural characterisation of cobalt(II) and iron(II) chloride complexes containing bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine and tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine ligands

Treatment of (2-C₅H₄N)CH_{2 3}N (TPA) with one equivalent of MCl₂ in n-BuOH at elevated temperatures affords the six-coordinate complexes [(TPA)MCl₂] (M = Co (1), Fe (2)) and, in the case of CoCl₂, the five-coordinate chloride salt [(TPA)CoCl]Cl (3). Conversely, addition of an excess of CoCl₂ in the latter reaction leads to [(TPA)CoCl]₂[CoCl₄] (4) as the only isolable product. Interaction of one equivalent of (2-C₅H₄N)CH_{2 2}NH (DPA) and MCl₂ under similar reaction conditions to that described above affords the dimeric species [(fac-DPA)MCl(μ-Cl)]₂ (M = Co (5), Fe (6)), while the bis(ligand) halide salts [(fac-DPA)₂M]Cl₂ (M = Co (7), Fe (8)) are accessible on addition of two equivalents of DPA. In the presence of air, 6 undergoes oxidation to give [ (fac-DPA)FeCl_{2 2}(μ-O)] (9). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies are reported for 1, 2 · MeCN, 3, , 7 · 3MeCN, 8 · 3MeCN and 9.