Racemic titanium(IV) complexes of salicylideneamino acids

New racemic complexes of titanium with Schiff bases derived from condensation of salicylaldehyde with dl-alanine (H₂Sal-dl-Ala) and dl-valine (H₂Sal-dl-Val) have been prepared. The crystal structure of (Sal-dl-Val)₂Ti·CH₂Cl₂ bis(N-salicylidenevalinato)titanate(IV) CH₂Cl₂] has been solved by single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods; the crystal is a racemate consisting of a pair of enantiomers (Sal-d-Val)₂Ti and (Sal-l-Val)₂Ti. The Schiff-base ligand acts as a double negatively-charged tridentate ONO chelate, coordinated to the titanium atom. The geometry around titanium is a distorted octahedron. The i.r. and u.v.–vis. spectra of the complexes have been evaluated.