Color tuning of a nickel complex with a novel N2S2 pyridine-containing macrocyclic ligand.

The novel pyridine-containing 14-membered macrocycle 3,11-dithia-7,17-diazabicyclo[11.3.1]heptadeca-1(17),13,15-triene (L), which contains an N2S2 donor set, was synthesized, and its protonation behavior was studied by absorption titration with CH3SO3H. The reaction of L with Pd(II) was studied spectroscopically, and the square-planar complex Pd(L) was isolated and characterized. The reactions between L and NiX2 x 6 H2O (X = BF4, ClO4) in ethanol or acetonitrile afforded the octahedral complexes Ni(CH3CN)(H2O)(L)2 and Ni(H2O)2(L)2, respectively. The square-planar complexes Ni(L)2 were obtained by heating these octahedral complexes. Spectrophotometric titrations of Ni(L)2 were performed with neutral and negatively charged ligands. The color of nitromethane solutions of this square-planar complex turns from red to cyan, purple, blue, yellow-green, and pink following addition of halides, acetonitrile, water, pyridine, and 2,2'-bipyridine, respectively. X-ray structural analyses were carried out on the {[Ni(ClO4)(H2O)(L)][Ni(H2O)2(L)]}(ClO4)3, Ni(CH3CN)(H2O)(L)2, {Ni(L)}2(mu-Cl)22, and [{Ni(L)}2(mu-Br)2]Br2 x 2 CH3NO2 complexes.