Anion effects on construction of cadmium(II) compounds with a chelating ligand bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine: Their photoluminescence and catalytic activities

Abstract Four new structures of Cd II complexes containing bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine (bispicam) ligands have been determined. Chloride anions bridge two Cd II ions to form a dinuclear complex [(Cd(bispicam)Cl) 2 (μ 2 -Cl 2 )] ( 1 ), and bromide and iodide ions produce two halide-coordinated [Cd(bispicam)X 2 ] complexes (X = Cl for 2 and Br for 3 ). Nitrate anions produce both nitrate-coordinated [Cd(bispicam) 2 (NO 3 )] + and simple [ mer -Cd(bispicam) 2 ] 2+ with three nitrate counter-anions ( 4 ). These results indicate that anion effects play very important roles for construction of crystal structures and geometrical isomerism. Moreover, the homogeneous catalyst [Cd(bispicam) 2 ](ClO 4 ) 2 ( 5 ) catalyzed efficiently the transesterification of a variety of esters with methanol, while rest of the complexes have displayed very slow conversions. Furthermore, 1 – 5 showed the intense emissions at room temperature, which could be used as a good candidate for a potential hybrid inorganic–organic photoactive material.