Dinuclear Lanthanide(III) Complexes from the Use of Methyl 2-Pyridyl Ketoxime: Synthetic, Structural, and Physical Studies

Raptopoulou C, Psycharis V, Konidaris KF, Chasapis CT, Perlepes SP. Confirming the Molecular Basis of the Solvent Extraction of Cadmium(II) Using 2-Pyridyl Oximes through a Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry Approach and a Proposal for More Efficient Extractants

The present work describes the reactions of CdI2 with 2-pyridyl aldoxime (2paoH), 3-pyridyl aldoxime (3paoH), 4-pyridyl aldoxime (4paoH), 2-6-diacetylpyridine dioxime (dapdoH2) and 2,6-pyridyl diamidoxime (LH4). The primary goal was to contribute to understanding the molecular basis of the very good liquid extraction ability of 2-pyridyl ketoximes with long aliphatic chains towards toxic Cd(II) and the inability of their 4-pyridyl isomers for this extraction. Our systematic investigation provided access to coordination complexes [CdI2(2paoH)2] (1), {[CdI2(3paoH)2]}n (2), {[CdI2(4paoH)2]}n (3) and [CdI2(dapdoH2)] (4). The reaction of CdI2 and LH4 in EtOH resulted in a Cd(II)-involving reaction of the bis(amidoxime) and isolation of [CdI2(L'H2)] (5), where L'H2 is the new ligand 2,6-bis(ethoxy)pyridine diimine. A mechanism of this transformation has been proposed. The structures of 1, 2, 3, 4·2EtOH and 5 were determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The complexes have been characterized by FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra in the solid state and the data are discussed in terms of structural features. The stability of the complexes in DMSO was investigated by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Our studies confirm that the excellent extraction ability of 2-pyridyl ketoximes is due to the chelating nature of the extractants leading to thermodynamically stable Cd(II) complexes. The monodentate coordination of 4-pyridyl ketoximes (as confirmed in our model complexes with 4paoH and 3paoH) seems to be responsible for their poor performance as extractants.

Mono- and Mixed Metal Complexes of Eu3+, Gd3+, and Tb3+ with a Diketone, Bearing Pyrazole Moiety and CHF2-Group: Structure, Color Tuning, and Kinetics of Energy Transfer between Lanthanide Ions

Three novel lanthanide complexes with the ligand 4,4-difluoro-1-(1,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)butane-1,3-dione (HL), namely [LnL₃(H₂O)₂], Ln = Eu, Gd and Tb, were synthesized, and, according to single-crystal X-ray diffraction, are isostructural. The photoluminescent properties of these compounds, as well as of three series of mixed metal complexes [Eu_xTb_1-xL₃(H₂O)₂] (Eu_xTb_1-xL₃), [EuxGd_1-xL₃(H₂O)₂] (Eu_xGd_1-xL₃), and [Gd_xTb_1-xL₃(H₂O)₂] (Gd_xTb_1-xL₃), were studied. The Eu_xTb_1-xL₃ complexes exhibit the simultaneous emission of both Eu³⁺ and Tb³⁺ ions, and the luminescence color rapidly changes from green to red upon introducing even a small fraction of Eu³⁺. A detailed analysis of the luminescence decay made it possible to determine the observed radiative lifetimes of Tb³⁺ and Eu³⁺ and estimate the rate of excitation energy transfer between these ions. For this task, a simple approximation function was proposed. The values of the energy transfer rates determined independently from the luminescence decays of terbium(III) and europium(III) ions show a good correlation.