Synthesis of mixed-ligand complexes of VO2+ and VO3+ incorporating hydrazone, 1,10-phenanthroline and 8-hydroxyquinoline

2-Aminobenzoylhydrazide (abh) reacts with equimolar amounts of either V^IVO(acac)₂] or V^IVO(bzac)₂] (where acac^? and bzac^? are the monoanionic forms of acetylacetone (Hacac) and benzoylacetone (Hbzac), respectively) in the presence of equimolar amounts of 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) to form the octahedral mixed-ligand complexes V^IVO(L¹)(phen)] (1) and V^IVO(L²)(phen)] (2), where (L¹)^2? and (L²)^2? are the dianionic forms of the 2-aminobenzoylhydrazone of acetylacetone (H₂L¹) and benzoylacetone (H₂L²). Upon substituting phen by 8-hydroxyquinoline (Hhq), pentavalent V^VO(L¹)(hq)] (3) and V^VO(L²)(hq)] (4) complexes were instead obtained. In the crystal structures of 3 and 4, the hydrazone ligands coordinate to the vanadium center through the enolic-O, one imine-N and amide-O in a mer geometry. The amine and the second imine nitrogen form intramolecular hydrogen bonds. Complexes 1 and 2 display quasi-reversible one-electron oxidation peaks near +0.60 V, while the pentavalent 3 and 4 exhibit quasi-reversible one-electron reduction peaks near ?0.18 V versus Ag/AgCl in CH₂Cl₂ solution. EPR spectroscopic studies on 1 and 2 suggest that the unpaired electron is present in the d_xy orbital. DFT studies for 3 indicate that the d_xy orbital of vanadium is the main contributor to the LUMO.