Syntheses, Characterization, Thermal, and Antimicrobial Studies of Lanthanum(III) Tolyl/Benzyldithiocarbonates

Lanthanum(III) tris(O-tolyl/benzyldithiocarbonates), [La(ROCS2)] (R = o-, m-, p-CH3C6H4 and C6H5CH2), were isolated as yellow solid by the reaction of LaCl3·7H2O with sodium salt of tolyl/benzyldithiocarbonates, ROCS2Na (R = o-, m-, p-CH3C6H4 and C6H5CH2), in methanol under anhydrous conditions in 1 : 3 molar ratio. These complexes have formed adducts with nitrogen and phosphorus donor molecules by straightforward reaction of these complexes with donor ligands, which have the composition of the type [La(ROCS2)3·nL] (where n = 2, L = NC5H5 or P(C6H5)3 and n = 1, L = N2C12H8 or N2C10H8). Elemental analyses, mass, IR, TGA, and heteronuclear NMR (1H, 13C and 31P) spectroscopic studies indicated bidentate mode of bonding by dithiocarbonate ligands leading to hexacoordinated and octacoordinated geometry around the lanthanum atom. Antimicrobial (antifungal and antibacterial) activity of the free ligands and some of the complexes have also been investigated which exhibited significantly more activity for the complexes than the free ligands.