An insight into the non-covalent Cl•••Cl interaction in the solid state structure of carboxylate bridged trinuclear mixed valence cobalt(III/II/III) complexes with tetradentate N2O2 donor reduced Schiff base ligands

Two mixed-valence trinuclear cobalt(III)-cobalt(II)-cobalt(III) complexes, [CoII{(μ-L1)(μ-OOCC6H5NO2)CoIII(N3)}2] (1) and [CoII{(μ-L2)(μ-OOCC6H4NO2CH3)CoIII(N3}2] (2) have been synthesized using two tetradentate N2O2 donor 'reduced Schiff base' ligands, H2L1 {2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediyl)bis(iminomethylene)bis(4-chlorophenol}, and H2L2{2-hydroxy-1,3-propanediyl)bis(iminomethylene)bis(4-chlorophenol}, and 3-nitrobenzoic benzoic acid or 4-methyl 3-nitrobenzoic benzoic acid as anionic co-ligands. The complexes have been characterized by spectroscopic measurements and their solid state structures have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The trinuclear cobalt(III)-cobalt(II)-cobalt(III) skeleton of both the complexes are linear and centrosymmetric. Both the central cobalt(II) and terminal cobalt(III) of both the complexes are hexa-coordinated. DFT calculations have been used to analysed some supramolecular assemblies of the complex that have been observed in the solid state, specifically the Cl···Cl interactions that result in the creation of a stable 2D supramolecular assembly in the solid state. QTAIM and NCI Plot computational tools have been used to characterize the interactions. Thermo-gravimetric (TG) analysis was used to examine the thermal behaviour of both complexes. The redox behaviors of both the complexes were studied by using Cyclic Voltammetry (CV).