Chelating Complexes of Diethylzinc and ZnCl2 with 2,2‐Bipyridine and 1,6,7,12,13,18‐Hexaazatrinaphthylene (HATN) as Ligands

The 1,6,7,12,13,18-hexaazatrinaphthylene (HATN) complex [(Et2Zn)3(μ3-HATN)] was synthesized and characterized by IR spectroscopy, UV/Vis spectroscopy, elemental analysis and ESI-MS spectrometry. Attempts to prepare ZnCl2 complexes of HATN leads only to the mononuclear [(Cl2Zn)(HATN)] derivative, characterized by X-ray diffraction, IR- and UV/Vis-spectroscopy as well as ESI-MS spectrometry. The bright red 2,2′-bipyridine (bipy) complex [(Et2Zn)(bipy)] (1) was synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction and NMR spectroscopy. The UV/Vis-spectra of the HATN-complexes show absorptions in regions of far longer wavelengths than the corresponding 2,2′-bipyridine or 1,10-phenantroline complexes. Consequently the π*-LUMO of HATN (5) is lower in energy than the π*-LUMO of 2,2′-bipyridine (2) or 1,10-phenanthroline (phen).