Self-assembly of two novel cadmium(II) complexes: One from tripodal imine-phenol ligand and the other from in situ partial degradation of dipolar imine-phenol ligand

Through different synthetic strategies, two novel cadmium(II) complexes have been synthesized and characterized. The first mesocate complex Cd3L21 (1) with S-6 symmetry based on tris[(2-salicylaldeneimino)ethyl]-amine (H3L1 or H(3)trensal) is constructed from the self-assembly of Cd2+ ion and two chiral building block units, Delta- and Lambda-[Cd(trensal)](-), in which the coordination numbers of six and seven for Cd(II) ions are rarely found in one discrete compound without any auxiliary ligand. However, under the same reaction conditions. CdL3(H2O)(NO3) (2) with N3O4 donors is obtained from Cd-II coordination induced partial hydrolysis of dipolar imine-phenol Schiff base ligand N,N'-bis(salicylidene)-3, 6-dioxa-1,8-diaminooctane (H2L2), which provides the first example of hydrated Cd-II salt promoting partial degradation of the imine-phenol ligand. The strong fluorescence emission of 1 makes it a potentially useful photoactive material for its high thermal and chemical stability.