3.1. Investigation of Q ligand
In many carbazone ligands, enol-ketone tautomerization occurs. By tautomerization, hydrogen can bind to sulfur on a nitrogen atom adjacent to thiocarbonyl ligand, and the ligand becomes negatively charged. As shown in Scheme 3, this tautomerization can also take place in the Q ligand, and as a result, the bonding of the ligand to the enolate form is observed in the formation of the complex.
Some physical characteristics of Q ligand are given in Table 3.
Table 3
Some physical characteristics of Q ligand
compound | Molecular formula | Molar mass | color | Melting point | Yield (%) |
Q | C7H8N4S | 180 g/mol | cream | 200 | 80 % |
The obtained ligands were identified using FT-IR spectroscopy. Figure 2 shows the FT-IR spectrum of Q ligand.
The results of FT-IR spectroscopy show that the band related to the amide tensile vibration for the Q ligand in the region of 3425.98 cm-1 is observed as a sharp band. The most important band observed in the spectrum of Schiff base Q ligands belongs to the imine functional group and the hydrogen on the nitrogen atom N3 of the ligands. Observing the band related to imine is proof of the formation of a Schiff Base product. The band corresponding to the imine νC=N for the Q ligand is seen as a sharp band in the region of 1602.13 cm-1.
Due to the structure of the synthetic ligand and the observation of a hydrogen atom attached to the nitrogen of the thiosemicarbazide, it is expected that this ligand will act as a neutral ligand by retaining this hydrogen or act as an anionic ligand by losing this hydrogen. The related band νN-H.
For the Q ligand is observed as a sharp band in the 3162.34 cm-1 region. The peak corresponding to νC=S for the Q ligand is observed in the region of 1703.36 cm-1. Due to the structure of the synthetic ligand, it is expected that this ligand will act as a mono-dentate or di-dentate ligand. Scheme 4 shows the coordination method of the synthetic Schiff base ligand to the metallic ion.
Investigation of complexes (І) and (II)
By reacting pyridine-4-carbaldehyde thiosemicarbazide organic ligand with a mixture of mercury (II) iodide and methanol, the novel mercury (II) metal organic coordination compound [Hg(Q)I2]n was organized. The compound’s nanostructure was obtained by ultrasonic irradiation within a methanolic solution, then, the single crystalline substance was attained by utilizing the heat gradients to the reagents solution or the branched tube route. Scheme 5 presented an outline of the routes applied for the preparation of [Hg(Q)I2]n applying the two different methods.
Figure 3 shows the complex’s FT-IR spectra in the crystalline, bulk, and nano shape. Comparison of these spectra shows their similarity and the corresponding main peaks have a good overlap with each other.
In the FT-IR spectrum of these compounds, absorption bands with varying intensities in the region of 1400–1600 cm-1 are attributed to the vibrations of the ligand pyridine ring, which is related to the C = C and C = N bonds. Peaks related to imine C = N are seen as sharp bands in the region of 1600 cm-1, which have shifted to lower wavenumbers by the coordination of the ligand to the metal and the formation of a complex with little displacement.
The tensile N-H peaks in the vibrational spectrum of the complex are observed in the area of 3270 cm-1 and indicate the presence of the N-H group of the ligand when it is coordinated with the central metal, and indicate the presence of the ligand in the neutral form in the formation of the complex. For all three complexes, the related band of new C = N bond formation is not observed, and this proves that in the formation of all three complexes Q ligand has participated in the form of ketones in the coordination of metallic ion. The S = C group in the complex is observed in the area of about 1700 cm-1 with a slight displacement which indicates that it is coordinated to the metal.
The N-N group is observed in the 1000 cm-1 area that this adsorption band is shifted in the spectrum of all three complexes to lower wavenumbers than the spectrum of ligand, which indicates the lack of coordination of the nitrogen atom of azomethine to the metallic ion. The decrease in νN-N in the absorption spectrum of the complexes is due to the decrease of bond property in the double bond, which confirms the coordination of the ligand through the sulfur of thiosemicarbazide to the metallic ion.
The results of these studies indicate that if ligand tautomerization takes place, the ligand participates in the formation of complexes in the form of enol, and in the spectrum of complexes the absorption band of νN-N is removed, and νC-N and νN-N shifts to higher numbers and a new C = N bond is created in the wavenumber 1510–1560 cm-1. However, the observation of νN-N band in the spectrum of complexes indicates that the ligand is not tautomerized in the solid-state and the presence of the ketonic form of the ligand in coordination with the metallic ion.
The νC-H aromatic bending is observed in the area of 930 cm-1, and νC-C aromatic bending is observed in the area of 1410 cm-1, and νC-H of the complex aromatic tensile in the area of 3170 cm-1 with a slight displacement, indicating that it is coordinated to the metal.
As can be seen, there is a good match between the crystal, nanomaterial, and synthesized bulk in all areas.
The experimental (obtained of the sonochemically prepared specimen) and simulated (achieved with the single crystal arrangement of (I)) powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were compared and it was proved that based on the crystal structure, the sonochemical manner-produced structured compound is the same as the compound obtained with single crystal diffraction (Fig. 4).
Figure 5 demonstrate the nano rods found with scanning electron microscope. The coordination polymer synthesized with the sonochemical has a very interesting structure. It contains cross-rods by thickness 25-30nm. Further investigations are required for the mechanism of this structure’s formation, nevertheless, it may be caused by the complex’s crystal structure as a 1D chain. Indeed, packing the structure over a molecular level might affect the morphology of the complex’s nano structure.
In Fig. 6, determining the structure by X-ray diffraction indicates that the complex (І) in the solid-state is as a stepped one-dimensional coordination polymer. And the ligand has attached as the monodentate to the mercury metal via the sulfur atom. This complex with Z = 4, is crystallized in the monoclinic crystal lattice and belongs to the spatial group P21/c. The desired density is 3.3202 Mg/m3 and the crystal size is 0.12×0.17×0.18 mm3.
a, b, c are equal to 11.51, 14.59, and 7.84 Å, respectively. Alpha and gamma are equal to 90º and beta is equal to 92.85º. The crystallographic data of the complex are given in Table 4.
Table 4
Crystallography data of the coordination polymer
| x | y | Z | U(eq) |
Hg(1) | 4432(1) | 8054(1) | 4875(1) | 21(1) |
I(1) | 3261(1) | 6620(1) | 6434(1) | 18(1) |
I(2) | 3769(1) | 9568(1) | 6572(1) | 19(1) |
S(1) | 6417(1) | 7796(1) | 3867(2) | 16(1) |
N(1) | 6262(4) | 5986(3) | 4439(6) | 21(1) |
N(2) | 7930(4) | 6694(3) | 5392(6) | 12(1) |
N(3) | 8341(3) | 5852(3) | 5904(5) | 12(1) |
N(4) | 10814(4) | 3320(3) | 8526(6) | 20(1) |
C(1) | 6871(4) | 6739(3) | 4616(6) | 13(1) |
C(2) | 9329(4) | 5843(3) | 6743(7) | 14(1) |
C(3) | 9830(4) | 4970(3) | 7329(6) | 14(1) |
C(4) | 9254(4) | 4143(4) | 7047(8) | 20(1) |
C(5) | 9768(5) | 3349(4) | 7661(8) | 23(1) |
C(6) | 11357(4) | 4117(4) | 8780(7) | 18(1) |
C(7) | 10893(4) | 4955(4) | 8230(7) | 18(1) |
Atomic coordinates ( x 104) and equivalent isotropic displacement parameters (إ2x 103) for d1922a_a. U(eq) is defined as one third of the trace of the orthogonalized Uij tensor.
In the unit cell view of this complex (Fig. 7), four structural units with repeating units can be seen that the relationship between these structural units is through the Symmetric elements of screwy axes of 21, sliding plates, and centers of symmetry. As shown in Fig. 8, the screwy axes 21 are parallel to axis b and the two sliding planes are perpendicular to axis b. The centers of symmetry in the center of a unit cell connect these units to each other.
In this structure, a type of mercury with an asymmetric coordination sphere is observed. In this compound, each mercury central metal has attached to a sulfur atom of Q ligands and three iodine atoms which two of iodine atoms are attached to other repeating units, and one of them is free. Therefore, mercury has a coordination number of 4 with the HgSI3 pattern. In Coordination polymers (І), Communication between structural units is through one bond of Hg-I which has located in bridge mode that caused the formation of the polymeric structure.
The longest bond length with a size of 2.99 Å is related to the Hg-I bond which is in the bridge position and the shortest bond length with a size of 88 is related to the N-H bond. The molecule has no center of symmetry and the lengths of the mercury-iodine bonds are not the same. Also, the angles around the central metal atom are not the same in the coordination cortex, the angles for the three iodine atoms with the central metal and the ligand are about 124.5˚, 119.67˚, 96.73˚. The Q Ligand is coordinated to the central metal via sulfur of thiosemicarbazide and acts as a monodentate ligand in the polymer structure. This compound in solid form is a one-dimensional coordination polymer. The polymeric structure of the compound is shown in Fig. 9.
In coordination polymer, in addition to coordination covalent strong bonds which cause the polymer to expand in a one-dimensional step, other weak interactions such as hydrogen interactions and aromatic interactions cause the self-aggregation of one-dimensional chains and transform the structure into a three-dimensional super molecule with intermolecular interactions.
The structure of the composition is a one-dimensional coordination polymer without considering weak interactions. By considering the weak interactions, the presence of four hydrogen bonds for this structure is observed and becomes a three-dimensional structure which in Fig. 10 show the structure of the complex (І) with Considering the hydrogen bonds and short connections along the b and c axes. Table 5 also shows hydrogen bonds.
Table 5
Selected non-covalent contacts in the crystal structure of (I) [Å and ˚].
D-H...A | d(D-H) | d(H...A) | d(D...A) | <(DHA) |
N(1)-H(1NA)...I(1)#3 | 0.88 | 3.21 | 3.907 | 138.1 |
N(1)-H(1NA)...I(2)#4 | 0.88 | 3.15 | 3.753 | 127.6 |
N(1)-H(1NB)...I(2)#1 | 0.88 | 2.83 | 3.648 | 155.5 |
N(2)-H(2N)...N(4)#5 | 0.85 | 2.03 | 2.885 | 179 |
Figure 11 shows how the ligands coordinate with the central metal and create a zigzag structure for the complex (І).
The decomposition of precursor [Hg(Q)(I)2]n in oleic acid functioning as a surfactant under air atmosphere at 180°C yields nano-powder of Hg (II) oxide. The XPRD pattern of as-synthesized HgO nano powder is seen in Fig. 12. All the diffraction peaks are matched well with the orthorhombic phase HgO with respect to their positions as found in JCPDS card No. 72-1141.
Figure 13 displays the SEM image of as-prepared HgO nanoparticles. The obtained HgO has the regular nanoparticle shape with diameters of around 20-100nm according to size distribution graph of product.
The XPS spectrum (Fig. 14) confirms the presence of O and Hg in the sample. The binding energy corresponding to the peaks O1s, 4f7/2 and 4f5/2 obtained by XPS analysis is 531.05, 100.76 and 104.59 eV, respectively [31].
The thermal gravimetric (TG) analysis was applied to evaluate the thermal stability of the [Hg(Q)(I)2]n 1. TG was recorded in the temperature range of 20 and 800ºC. The diagram of 1 display that the compound remains stable up to 105ºC, and then decomposes up to 215 ºC. The first weight loss is related to removal of iodide units. The step 2 and 3 in the range 285 ºC to 580 ºC with sharp weight losses is attributed to organic moiety of 1 with a mass loss of about 46.8%. The remained solid around 800 ºC is probably HgO.