Fluorescent aluminum chelate complexes as modified precursors for nano-structured alumina

A series of new mononuclear heteroleptic derivatives of aluminum(III), {(CH₃COCHCOCH₃)AlL] (1 and 4)}, {(C₆H₅COCHCOC₆H₅)AlL] (2, 5, and 7)}, and {(C₉H₆NO)AlL] (3 and 6)}, have been synthesized by reacting Al(OPrⁱ)₃ with tridentate Schiff base H₂L^x (H₂L¹ = C₁₃H₁₀BrNO₂; H₂L² = C₁₄H₁₃NO₃; H₂L³ = C₁₇H₁₃NO₂) and β-diketone/8-hydroxyquinoline (β-diketone = acetylacetone/dibenzoylmethane) in 1?:?1?:?1 stoichiometry using anhydrous benzene and ethanol. All the complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, and NMR (¹H and ¹³C) spectral studies. Molecular structures obtained from single-crystal XRD of aqua 1 (1a) and DMSO coordinated 2 (2a) authenticate their existence. Further, nanostructured α-alumina was synthesized from 1 by well-established sol–gel method and was characterized by powder XRD, TEM, and EDX analyses.