The tetra- and binu
clear heterometallic complexes of nickel(II)-vanadium(IV/V) combinations involving a phenol-based primary ligand, viz.,
N,
N'-dimethyl-
N,
N'-bis(2-hydroxy-3,5-dimethylbenzyl)ethylenediamine (H
2L
1), are reportedin this work. Carboxylates and
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
-diketonates have been used as ancillary ligands to obtain the tetranu
clear complexes[Ni
II2V
V2(RCOO)
2(L
1)
2O
4] (R = Ph,
1; R = Me
3C,
2) and the binu
clear types [(
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
-diket)Ni
IIL
1V
IVO(
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
-diket)] (
3 and
4),respectively. X-ray crystallography shows that the tetranu
clear complexes are constructed about an unprecedentedheterometallic eight-membered Ni
2V
2O
4 core in which the (L
1)
2- ligands are bound to the Ni center in a N
2O
2 modeand simultaneously bridge a V atom via the phenoxide O atoms. The
cis-N
2O
4 coordination geometry for Ni iscompleted by an O atom derived from the bridging carboxylate ligand and an oxo O atom. The latter two atoms,along with a terminal oxide group, complete the O
5 square-pyramidal coordination geometry for V. Each of thedinu
clear compounds, [(acac)Ni
IIL
1V
IVO(acac)] (
3) and [(dbm)Ni
IIL
1V
IVO(dbm)] (
4) [Hdbm = dibenzoylmethane], alsofeatures a tetradentate (L
1)
2- ligand, Ni in an octahedral
cis-N
2O
4 coordination geometry, and V in an O
5 square-pyramidal geometry. In
3 and
4, the bridges between the Ni and V atoms are provided by the (L
1)
2- ligand. TheNi···V separations in the structures lie in the narrow range of 2.9222(4) Å (
3) to 2.9637(5) Å (
4). The paramagneticNi centers (
S = 1) in
1 and
2 are widely separated (Ni···Ni separations are 5.423 and 5.403 Å) by the doubleV
VO
4 bridge that leads to weak antiferromagnetic interactions (
J = -3.6 and -3.9 cm
-1) and thus an
ST = 0ground state for these systems. In
3 and
4, the interactions between paramagnetic centers (Ni
II and V
IV) are alsoantiferromagnetic (
J = -8.9 and -10.0 cm
-1), leading to an
ST =
1/
2 ground state. Compound
4 undergoes twoone-electron redox processes at
E1/2 = +0.66 and -1.34 V vs Ag/AgCl reference due to a V
IV/V oxidation and aNi
II/I reduction, respectively, as indicated by cy
clic and differential pulse voltammetry.