Synthesis, crystal structure and characterizations of iron(III) and copper(II) complexes with the hydrazone ligand obtained from 2-formyl-pyridine and Girard’s T reagent

The condensation of 2-formyl-pyridine with Girard’s T reagent yields a new hydrazone in the form of an ammonium quaternary salt: H(2-PyGT)]Cl. This tridentate ligand is readily soluble in water and reacts with iron(III) or copper(II) chlorides to give Fe(2-PyGT)Cl₃] (1) or Cu(2-PyGT)Cl₂]·(H₂O) (2) complexes, respectively. Single-crystal X-ray studies in 1 and 2 reveal that the coordination reaction gives rise to the deprotonation of the organic ligand that is coordinated using its NNO donor atoms in the form of a zwitterion species. The coordination spheres around the transition metal ions in complexes 1 and 2 are quite different. In 1, the iron site adopts a distorted octahedral coordination sphere, while the Cu(II) ions in 2 show a distorted tetragonal-pyramid geometry. As expected, the magnetic properties of these compounds reveal only weak antiferromagnetic interaction between spin carriers.