Synthesis and studies on nickel(III) and copper(III) complexes of 3-methyl-, 4-methyl- and 2,6-dimethylpiperidine carbodithioates

New complexes of trivalent nickel and copper, viz. Ni(III)(Lcdt)(2)X (X = Br, I and Lcdt = 4-methylpiperidinecarbodithioate anion (4-MePipdcdt) and 2,6-dimethylpiperidinecarbodithioate anion (2,6-Me(2)Pipdcdt) and Cu(III)(Lcdt)(n)X-m (n = 2, m = 1 when X = I and n = 1, m = 2 when X = Br and Lcdt = the anions: 3 -methylpiperidinecarbodithioate (3-MePipdcdt), 4-MePipdcdt and 2,6-Me(2)Pipdcdt have been prepared by oxidation of M(Lcdt)(2) (M = Ni(II) and Cu(II)) with halogen X-2 in suitable media. The complexes have been characterised by elemental analyses, infrared and electronic spectral and room-temperature magnetic susceptibility studies. For nickel(III) carbodithioates either a square-planar or square-pyramidal structure has been assigned and for the copper(III) carbodithioates,the presence of a mixture of singlet (S = 0) and triplet (S = 1) forms of square-planar species has been proposed.