Influence of structural variation of salamo‐based ligand on supramolecular architectures,Hirshfeld analyses,and fluorescence properties of new tetranuclear NiII complexes

Two new tetranuclear Ni^II complexes, [Ni₄(L¹)₂(N₃)₄(MeOH)₂]·CH₃COCH₃ (1) and [Ni₄(L²)₂(N₃)₄(MeOH)₂]·4CH₃COCH₃ (2) , were synthesized using NiCl₂·6H₂O, NaN₃, and asymmetric salamo‐based ligands H₂L¹ and H₂L², respectively. The structural characterization was made by elemental analyses, infrared (IR) and ultraviolet‐visible (UV‐vis) spectra, and X‐ray diffraction analyses. The results of X‐ray diffraction analyses show that the Ni^II atoms in complexes 1 and 2 are distorted octahedral geometries. Interestingly, the degree of distortion of the ligands in complexes 1 and 2 is different, which indicates that the interaction of Ni^II ions on different ligands is different. Meanwhile, the investigation of molecular packing by employing the Hirshfeld surface analysis exhibits that the percentages of C–H/H–C, O–H/H–O, and H–H/H–H contacts of the complex 1 (or 2 ) are calculated to be 17.7%, 7.9%, and 53.7% (or 18.8%, 13.8%, and 52.5%), respectively, where the H–H/H–H contacts have the characteristics of strong contacts whereas the O–H/H–O hydrogen bonds are considerably weak, and the studies on fluorescence properties further confirm the Ni^II atoms have different binding abilities to the different ligands.