Synthesis and thermal stability of cis -dichloro[ (E) -ethyl-2-(2-((8-hydroxyquinolin-2-il)methylene)hidrazinyl)acetate-κ 2 N ]-palladium(II) complex

The structure of new cis -dichloro[ (E) -ethyl-2-(2-((8-hydroxyquinolin-2-il)methylene)hidrazinyl)acetate-κ 2 N ]-palladium(II) complex was determined using a combination of XRD and IR measurements and DFT calculations. Inherent flexibility of its structure is evident from the complexity of its IR spectrum, which could only be theoretically reproduced as a combination of several closely related structures, involving rotation around C–O bond and changes in hydrogen interactions of its –OH group. Its thermal stability and decomposition were studied non-isothermally, and the thermal decomposition mechanism was proposed using correlation with DFT calculations at the molecular level. It was determined that the initial degradation step consists of the release of Cl free radical, which then reacts with both the initial compound and the degradation products. Besides the endothermic steps, there are exothermic ones, contributing to the complex shape of the DSC curve, consisted of overlapping endothermic and exothermic peaks. Deconvolution of DTG curve allowed identification of primary fragments of the initial degradation process and, in conjunction with DFT calculations, construction of the most likely reaction mechanism.