Structural elucidation of manganese(II), iron(III), cobalt(II), nickel(II), copper(II) and zinc(II) complexes of a new multidentate dihydrazino quinoxaline derivative

Summary Manganese(II), iron(III), cobalt(II), nickel(II), copper(II) and zinc(II) complexes of a new multidentate oxygen-nitrogen donor, bis(N-salicylidene)-2,3-dihydrazino-1,4-quinoxaline (H₂BSDHQ) were prepared and characterised by elemental analysis, conductance, thermal, spectral and magnetic data. H₂BSDHQ deprotonates to give a dibasic ONNO donor set in a trivalent iron(III) complex, which binds to the divalent metal ions in a bis-tridentate fashion, using two monobasic ONN donor sets, and resulting in polymeric complexes. Octahedral geometries are proposed for all these complexes, and preliminary studies show that they possess potential antimicrobial activity.