Coordinative Behavior of a New Hydroxynaphthanyl Sulphonamide Tridentate Schiff Base Towards First Row Late Transition Metal (LTM) and Post-Transitional Metal Atoms Zn and Cd: A Crystallographic and Computational Study

The electrochemical oxidation of anodic metal (cobalt, nickel, zinc or cadmium) in a cell containing an acetonitrile solution of the ligand (E)-N-(2-(((2-hydroxynaphthalen-1-yl)methylene)amino)phenyl)-4-methylbenzenesulphonamide (H₂L) affords complexes with the general formula [ML] (M = Co, Ni, Zn and Cd). Additionally, it was possible to obtain complexes with the general formula [MLL'] when L' = 2,2-bipyridine (2,2-bpy), 4,4-bipyridine (4-4'-bpy) or 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) was present in the electrolytic cell. All of the compounds obtained have been characterized via microanalysis, IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, UV-visible spectroscopy and, in the case of diamagnetic compounds, via ¹H NMR spectroscopy. Further structural and electronic characteristics of these adducts have been obtained via DFT simulations. The compounds NEt₄[CoL₂] (<b>1</b>), [NiL(H₂O)] (<b>2</b>), [NiL(CH₃CN)(H₂O)]₂ (<b>3</b>), [Ni₂L₂(4,4'-bpy)] (<b>4</b>), [Zn₂L₂(MeOH)₂] (<b>5</b>) and [ZnL(2,2'-bpy)](CH₃CN) (<b>6</b>) have been characterized via X-ray diffraction. In this paper, we present a detailed study of the different behavior of the above-mentioned ligand depending on the metal and/or the presence of ancillary ligands.