GENERAL-SYNTHESIS OF SALICYLALDEHYDE HALF-UNIT COMPLEXES - STRUCTURALDETERMINATION AND USE AS SYNTHON FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF DIMETALLIC OR TRIMETALLIC COMPLEXES AND OF SELF-ASSEMBLING LIGAND COMPLEXES

Template synthesis of the ligand resulting from the monocondensation o f 1,2-diaminoethane with salicylaldehyde was realized successfully in the presence of copper(II) ions and nitrogen bases (imidazole, pyridin e). This 'half-unit' ligand, named 4-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-3-aza-3 buten-1 -amino or N-(2-aminoethyl)salicylaldimine, is abbreviated as SEH or SE in its deprotonated form. This reaction can be extended to other diam ines. The complex [SECuImH]ClO4 crystallizes in the monoclinic space g roup P2(1)/c (no. 14) with 4 formula weights in the cell having dimens ions a = 9.020(1), b = 21.293(2), c = 8.384(1) Angstrom and beta = 107 .64(1)degrees. It presents several synthetic applications. Particular attention was paid to the dinuclear imidazole-bridged complexes, with imidazole bridges being free or included in a tetradentate Schiff base , via study of their magnetic properties. Some examples of self-assemb ling complexes are also given, along with [(SECu)(3)OH](ClO4)(2) . H2O for which magnetic results confirm the trinuclear structure. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.