Heterobimetallic molecular precursors [Co
2(acac)
2(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-OH)
2Cu
4(dmae)
4Cl
4] (
2)
and [Ni
2(acac)
2(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-OH)
2Cu
4(dmae)
4Cl
4] (
3) [dmaeH =
N,
N-dimethylaminoethanol
and acac = 2,4-pentanedionate] for the deposition of mixed oxidethin films were prepared by the interaction of tetrameric
N,
N-dimethylaminoethanolato copper(II) chloride, [Cu(dmae)Cl]
4 (
1) with M(acac)
2·
xH
2O, [M = Co, Ni] in toluene. Both heterobimetallic cage complexes were characterizedby melting point, elemental analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, magnetometery,
and single-crystalX-ray diffraction. Complexes
2 and 3 are isostructural
and crystallize in the monoclinic space group
P2
1/
n. A TGAstudy shows that both complexes undergo controlled thermal decomposition at 450
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
C to give mixed metal oxides.Solid-state infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis(EDX),
and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis were performed to analyze the chemical composition
andsurface morphology of the deposited oxide thin films. The results obtained indicate the formation of impurity-freecrystalline mixed oxide films with particle sizes ranging from 0.55 to 2.0
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
m.