Mono and trinuclear complexes of alpha-oximinoacetoacetylpyridine-4-phenylthiosemicarbazone.

Complexes of several transition metal ions with alpha-oximinoacetoacetyl pyridine-4-phenylthiosemicarbazone (H3OAPT) have been prepared. Attempts were made to elucidate their geometries by elemental analysis, molar conductance, magnetic measurements and by some spectroscopic (IR, ESR and electronic) techniques. All the investigated metal ions form mononuclear complexes except for CuII, which forms mononuclear and trinuclear complexes with its chloride and acetate salts, respectively. The IR spectra show that the ligand behaves as a mono or binegative tridentate. Moreover, it acts as a trinegative hexadentate in the trinuclear CuII complex. The protonation constants (logK1H = 9.9 and log K2H = 6.0), as well as the stability constants of the metal complexes, are determined by the pH-titration of H3OAPT and its metal(II) complexes against 0.01 M NaOH. CuII complexes possess square-planar stereochemistry while CoII and NiII have an octahedral one. The crystal field parameters of CoII and NiII complexes are evaluated.