56
J.M. Gichumbi et al. / Journal of Molecular Structure 1113 (2016) 55e59
molecular sieves. NMR spectra were recorded on a Bruker topspin
400 MHz spectrometer. Deuterated solvent DMSO-d6 (Aldrich) was
used as purchased. Melting points were measured on an Ernest
Leitz Wetzlar hot stage microscope. Elemental analyses were per-
formed on Thermal-Scientific Flash 2000 CHNS/O analyzer. Infrared
spectra were recorded using an ATR Perkin Elmer Spectrum 100
spectrophotometer between 4000 and 400 cmꢀ1 in the solid state.
Mass spectra were recorded via Waters Micromass LCT Premier
TOF-MS and ESI in the positive mode. DSC measurements was
recorded on a Universal V4.7A TA instrument using nitrogen at a
flow rate of 10 ml/min. Ruthenium trichloride was received from
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Synthesis
The mononuclear iminopyridyl ruthenium complex [Ru(h6
-
C6H6)[[L]Cl]PF6 (L ¼ 2,6-dimethyl-phenyl-pyridin-2-ylmethylene
amine) was synthesized by the reaction of [( -Cl)Cl]2
h
6-C6H6)Ru(
m
with 2, 6-dimethyl-N-(pyridin-2-ylmethylene) aniline in methanol
at room temperature. The complex was isolated using hexa-
flourophosphate as the counter ion as an air stable yellow (in the
web version) solid. As mentioned earlier the crystals of 2, were
obtained by recrystallization of 1 from an acetone/hexane solution.
The crystal morphologies of the two were different in that crystals
of polymorph 1 were blocks while those of polymorph 2 were
prisms (Fig. 1).
DLD-scientific. The Ru (II)-arene dimeric precursor [Ru [(
h6-C6H6)
Ru( -Cl)Cl]2 was synthesized according to reported literature pro-
m
cedures [13] and the imino-pyridine ligands prepared following
reported literature procedures [14].
The complex formation was confirmed using 1H and 13C NMR by
following the chemical shift of the imine proton of the ligand and
complex. A downward shift from 8.88 to 8.00 ppm of the imine
proton of the free ligand was observed confirming coordination of
the imine nitrogen to the ruthenium center. The downward shift in
2.2. Synthesis
The complexes were prepared using a modified method from
Gomez et al. [15]. To a suspension of [(h m-Cl)Cl]2
6-C6H6)Ru(
(0.2 mmols) in methanol (20 ml) was added the ligand
(0.42 mmols). The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 3 h
followed by the reduction in the volume of the solvent in vacuo to
about (10 ml) before adding NH4PF6 (0.42 mmol). The mixture was
then cooled in an ice bath while stirring for 2 h leading to a pre-
cipitate which was collected by filtration. The filtrate was washed
with diethyl ether and dried in vacuo.
the imine proton upon coordination can be due to the p-back-
bonding from ruthenium to the imine bond and/or due to confor-
mational changes experienced by the ligand in order to facilitate
coordination of the imine nitrogen to the ruthenium center [18]. In
the 13C NMR spectra of all the complexes, the eCH]N carbon shifts
up field for the complex as compared to the uncoordinated
pyridine-imine ligand. This is probably due to a deshielding effect
caused by increased charge transfer between the imine nitrogen
and the ruthenium metal. The cationic complexes also display a
septet in the 31P NMR spectra for the cation PF6, in the range
of ꢀ131 to ꢀ151 ppm, which agrees with the literature values for
other hexaflourophosphate salts [19].
The imine bond stretching frequency of the ligands in IR spec-
troscopy shifted from higher (1638.0 cmꢀ1) in the ligands to lower
wavenumbers of 1614.0 cmꢀ1 in the complex. This decrease in
stretching frequency is due to sigma donation of electrons from the
imine nitrogen to the ruthenium center, thus resulting in less
double bond character of the imine bond. In addition the IR spectra
of the complexes exhibit strong bands at around 826 cmꢀ1 due to
the stretching PeF mode of the counter ion of these complexes. The
ESI mass spectra of the compounds 1 showed a peak associated
with the loss of the PF6 counter ions.
Yield (89%) m.p. 248 (decomp.). 1H NMR (400 MHZ, DMSO-d6,
25 ꢁC).
py),
d
¼ 9.67 (s, 1H, py);
d
¼ 8.88 (s, 1H, CH]N);
d
¼ 8.32 (d, 1H,
d
¼ 8.21 (d, 1H, py);
d
¼ 8.19 (s, 1H, py); ¼ 7.93 (m, 1H, py);
d
d
d
d
d
d
d
¼ 7.34 (m, 3H, Ar);
d
¼ 5.87 (s, 6H, C6H6); ¼ 2.37 (s, 3H, Ar-CH3),
d
¼ 2.17 (s, 3H, Ar-CH3). 13C NMR (400 MHZ, DMSO-d6, 25 ꢁC)
¼ 173.59 (CH]N),
d
¼ 156.24 (py);
d
153.95 (py),
¼ 130.03 (Ar);
¼ 128.23 (Ar); ¼ 87.21 (C6H6);
d
¼ 150.96 (py);
¼ 140.12 (py);
¼ 128.99 (Ar);
d
d
¼ 131.12 (Ar);
¼ 128.7(Ar);
d
d
¼ 129.3 (Ar);
d
d
¼ 19.75 (Ar-CH3),
d
¼ 18.11 (Ar-CH3). Calcd for [C20H20ClN2Ru]PF6
C, 42.15; H, 3.54; N, 4.92. Found: C, 42.11; H, 3.70; N, 5.03. MS (ESI,
M/Z): 425.0363 for [C20H20ClN2Ru] þ
2.3. X-ray crystallography
Crystals of 1 suitable for single crystal X-ray diffraction studies
were grown by the liquid diffusion method in which the solutions
of the compounds in acetone were layered with hexane and left
undisturbed for 2 days. The crystals for the complex 2 were grown
by the slow evaporation of its acetone solution. Crystal evaluation
and data collection were performed on a Bruker Smart APEX II
3.2. Thermal analysis
DSC traces of 1 and 2 done between 298 K and 873 K are given in
Fig. 2. The trace of 1 showed two endotherms while that for 2
showed three endotherms. For both solvato-polymorphs there
seems to be phase changes at 531.6 and 523.4 K respectively fol-
lowed by decomposition at 639.0 and 638.2 K (Table 2). For com-
pound 2 an endotherm at 400.7 K attributed to the loss of the
diffractometer with Mo K
a
radiation (k ¼ 0.71073 Å). The re-
flections were successfully indexed by an automated indexing
routine built in the APEXII program suite [16]. The final cell con-
stants were calculated from a set of 6460 strong reflections from
the actual data collection. Data reduction was carried using the
program SAINTþ [16]. The structure was solved by direct methods
using SHELXS [17] and refined [17]. All structures were checked for
solvent-accessible cavities using PLATON [17]. Non-H atoms were
first refined isotropically and then by anisotropic refinement with
full-matrix least-squares calculations based on F2 using SHELXS
[17]. All H atoms were positioned geometrically and allowed to ride
on their respective parent atoms. The carboxyl H atoms were
located from the difference map and allowed to ride on their parent
atoms. All H atoms were refined isotropically. The absorption
correction was based on fitting a function to the empirical trans-
mission surface as sampled by multiple equivalent measurements
[17]. Crystal data and structure refinement information for com-
pounds 1 and 2 are summarized in Table 1.
acetone was observed with a heat of loss of about 265.5 kJ molꢀ1
,
probably is a rearrangement of compound 1. There seems to be
possible phase change in the structures of 1 and 2 leading to
shuttering of the crystals, observed at 531.6 and 523.4 K corre-
sponding to enthalpies of 179.8 kJ molꢀ1 for 1 and 5.6 kJ molꢀ1 for 2.
It's not clear if the difference in the enthalpy changes can be
attributed to the relative stabilities of the two solvato-polymorphs
at this stage. A similar trend was also observed for the enthalpies
associated with decompositions, 15.2 kJ molꢀ1 and 5.5 kJ molꢀ1 for
polymorph 1 and 2, even though they occur at very close temper-
atures, 639.0 and 638.2 K, respectively. The difference in the two
energies could be associated to the differences in the packing of
molecules in the crystals and also intermolecular interactions be-
tween the molecules in the solid state. The trace for compound 1