Syntheses,X-ray structures and properties of a dinuclear cadmium(II)azido and a polymeric cadmium(II)thiocyanato compounds containing bis(tridentate) congregators

One-pot reactions of cadmium(II) perchlorate/nitrate, Schiff bases (pbap/pfap) and pseudohalides (sodium azide/ammonium thiocyanate) in a 2:1:4 molar ratio in MeOH–MeCN solvent mixtures at room temperature result in a dinuclear compound Cd₂(pbap)(OH₂)₂(N₃)₄] (1) pbap = N-(1-pyridin-2-ylbenzylidene)-N-2-(4-{2-(1-pyridin-2-ylbenzylidene)amino]ethyl}piperazin-1-yl)ethyl]amine] and a polymeric compound Cd₂(pfap)(μ_1,3-NCS)(μ_1,3-SCN)(NCS)₂]_n (2) pfap = N-(1-pyridin-2-ylformylidene)-N-2-(4-{2-(1-pyridin-2ylformylidene)amino]ethyl}piperazin-1-yl)ethyl]-amine]. X-ray crystal structural analyses reveal a bis(tridentate) congregation behaviour of the hexadentate blocker (pbap/pfap) encapsulating two metal centers. Each cadmium(II) center in 1 and 2 is in a distorted octahedral geometry with CdN₅O and CdN₅S chromophores, respectively. In 1, the dinuclear units participate in intermolecular O–H?N hydrogen bonding between bound water O atoms and terminal azide N atoms, in combination with C–H?π interactions, resulting in a 3D supramolecular network with an intramolecular Cd?Cd distance of 6.473(2) Å. In the crystal lattice, the covalent 1D chain of 2 is further engaged in face-to-face π?π interactions from two terminal pyridine rings, which stabilizes the chain with an intradimer Cd?Cd separation of 6.640(5) Å. Both the complexes display intraligand ¹(π–π^∗) fluorescence and intraligand ³(π–π^∗) phosphorescence in glassy solutions.