Designing a heterotrinuclear CuII—NiII—CuII complex from a mononuclear CuII Schiff base precursor with dicyanamide as a coligand: synthesis,crystal structure,thermal and photoluminescence properties

Schiff bases are considered `versatile ligands' in coordination chemistry. The design of polynuclear complexes has become of interest due to their facile preparations and varied synthetic, structural and magnetic properties. The reaction of the `ligand complex' CuL] {H₂L is 2,2′‐propane‐1,3‐diylbis(nitrilomethanylylidene)]diphenol} with Ni(OAc)₂·4H₂O (OAc is acetate) in the presence of dicyanamide (dca) leads to the formation of bis(dicyanamido‐1κN¹)bis(dimethyl sulfoxide)‐2κO,3κO‐bis{μ‐2,2′‐propane‐1,3‐diylbis(nitrilomethanylylidene)]diphenolato}‐1:2κ⁶O,O′:O,N,N′,O′;1:3κ⁶O,O′:O,N,N′,O′‐dicopper(II)nickel(II), Cu₂Ni(C₁₇H₁₆N₂O₂)₂(C₂N₃)₂(C₂H₆OS)₂]. The complex shows strong absorption bands in the frequency region 2155–2269 cm⁻¹, which clearly proves the presence of terminal bonding dca groups. A single‐crystal X‐ray study revealed that two CuL] units coordinate to an Ni^II atom through the phenolate O atoms, with double phenolate bridges between Cu^II and Ni^II atoms. Two terminal dca groups complete the distorted octahedral geometry around the central Ni^II atom. According to differential thermal analysis–thermogravimetric analysis (DTA–TGA), the title complex is stable up to 423 K and thermal decomposition starts with the release of two coordinated dimethyl sulfoxide molecules. Free H₂L exhibits photoluminescence properties originating from intraligand (π–π*) transitions and fluorescence quenching is observed on complexation of H₂L with Cu^II.