Metal complexes as potential ligands: The deprotonation of aminephenolate metal complexes

The cationic nickel, copper and zinc complexes of tris-(2-hydroxybenzyl)-aminoethylamine (H6TrenSal) have been deprotonated using potassium hydroxide. The nickel complex can be sequentially deprotonated to form a series of compounds namely, [(H6TrenSal)Ni]+, [(H6TrenSal)Ni] and “[(H6TrenSal)Ni]K”. The latter is isolated as a mixture of species namely [{(H6TrenSal)Ni}K(EtOH)]2, [{(H6TrenSal)Ni}K(EtOH)2-μ-OH2]2 and [{(H6TrenSal)Ni}K(EtOH)2-μ-EtOH]2, which co-crystallise in a roughly 50:27.5:22.5 ratio. In contrast the deprotonation of [(H6TrenSal)M]+ (M = Cu, Zn) results in the formation of tetrameric complexes [({(H6TrenSal)Ni}K(OH2)2)4(μ4-OH2)].