Mononuclear versus dinuclear complex formation in nickel(II) sulfate/phenyl(2-pyridyl)ketone oxime chemistry depending on the ligand to metal reaction ratio: synthetic, spectral and structural studies

The reactions of phenyl(2-pyridyl)ketone oxime (py)C(ph)NOH, with nickel(II) sulfate hexahydrate under reflux, in the absence of an external base, have been investigated. The reaction of NiSO(4).6H(2)O with two equivalents of (py)C(ph)NOH in H(2)O/MeOH leads to the dinuclear complex Ni(2)(SO(4))(2){(py)C(ph)NOH}(4)] (1), while an excess of the organic ligand affords the 1:3 cationic complex Ni{(py)C(ph)NOH}(3)](SO(4)) (2). Compound 1 is transformed into 2 by a reaction with an excess of ligand in refluxing H(2)O/MeOH. Reactions of 1 and 2 with a limited amount of LiOH give the known cluster Ni(6)(SO(4))(4)(OH){(py)C(ph)NO}(3){(py)C(ph)NOH}(3)(H(2)O)(3)]. The structures of 1 and 2 have been determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. In both complexes the organic ligand chelates through its 2-pyridyl and oxime nitrogen atoms. The metal centers of 1 are bridged by two eta(1):eta(1):mu sulfato ligands; each metal ion has the cis-cis-trans deposition of the coordinated sulfato oxygen, pyridyl nitrogen and oxime nitrogen atoms, respectively. The cation of 2 is the fac isomer considering the positions of the coordinated pyridyl and oxime nitrogen atoms. The crystal structures of both complexes are stabilized by hydrogen bonds. Compounds 1 and 2 join a small family of structurally characterized metal complexes containing the neutral or anionic forms of phenyl(2-pyridyl)ketone oxime as ligands. The IR spectra of the two complexes are discussed in terms of the nature of bonding and their structures. From the vibrational spectroscopy viewpoint, the SO(4)(2-) groups in 1 and 2 appear to have lower symmetries compared with those deduced from X-ray crystallography; this is attributed to the participation of sulfates in hydrogen bonding interactions.