Metal chelates of heterocyclic nitrogen-containing ketones. XIV. Metal ion,anion and substituent effects on the enolization of mono-keto compounds

A number of new complexes of iron(II), cobakt(II), nickel(II), copper(II) and palladium(II) containing 2-picolyl-p-nitrophenyl- or 2-picolyl-p-tolyl ketone, L and L′, respectively, and various anions (Cl^?, Br^?, NSC^?, BF₄^? or ClO₄^?) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, magnetic susceptibility, ESR, IR and reflectance spectral measurements. The stereochemistry and the nature of the complexes are markedly dependent upon the molar of the reactants, the anions and the ligand substituents. In all complexes the ligands are cheated to the metal ion via the pryridine nitrogen and the carbonyl oxygen atoms, whereby in the case of [ML₂]X₂, M = iron(II) and [ML₃]X₂, M = cobalt(II) or nickel(II) and X = ClO₄^? or BF₄^?, the 2-picolyl-p-nitrophenyl ketone exists in its enol form which is only deprotonated in the presence of palladium(II). The ligand field parameters (Dq, B′, λ and β) are calculated and related to the electronic environment and the basicity of the ligands.