Nickel(II) and copper(II) complexes of unsymmetrical tetradentate reduced Schiff base ligands

Two new reduced Schiff base ligands, HL¹ = 4-{2-(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)-amino]-ethylimino}-pentan-2-one and HL² = 4-2-(1-pyridin-2-yl-ethylamino)-ethylimino]-pentan-2-one] have been prepared by reduction of the corresponding tetradentate unsymmetrical Schiff bases derived from 1:1: 1 condensation of 1,2-ethanediamine, acetylacetone and pyridine-2-carboxaldehyde/2-acetyl pyridine. Four complexes, Ni(L¹)]ClO₄ (1), Cu(L¹)]ClO₄ (2), Ni(L²)]ClO₄ (3), and Cu(L²)]ClO₄ (4) with these two reduced Schiff base ligands have been synthesized and structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. The mono-negative ligands L¹ and L² are chelated in all four complexes through the four donor atoms to form square planar nickel(II) and copper(II) complexes. Structures of 3 and 4 reveal that enantiomeric pairs are crystallized together with opposite chirality in the nitrogen and carbon atoms. The two Cu^II complexes (2 and 4) exhibit both irreversible reductive (Cu^II/Cu^I; E_pc, −1.00 and −1.04 V) and oxidative (Cu^II/Cu^III; E_pa, +1.22 and +1.17 V, respectively) responses in cyclic voltammetry. The electrochemically generated Cu^I species for both the complexes are unstable and undergo disproportionation.