Halogen bonded lamellar motifs in crystals of Schiff base ZnII–LnIII–ZnII coordination compounds – Synthesis, structure, Hirshfeld surface analysis and physicochemical properties

Abstract

Abstract Halogen bonded lamellar supramolecular motifs have been found in the series of trinuclear crystals of ZnII–LnIII–ZnII complexes with N,N′-bis(5-bromo-3-methoxysalicylidene)-1,3-diamino-2-propanol, with formulae [{Zn(HL)}2(μ-OAc)2Ln]NO3·2CH3OH·2H2O (1,2) and [{Zn(HL)}2(μ-OAc)2Ln]NO3·5.33H2O (3,4), where Ln\u202f=\u202fLa (1), Ce (2), Er (3) and Yb (4). The isoskeletal crystals form monoclinic (1,2) or trigonal (3,4) layers built of halogen bonded dimers or trimers. The role of halogen bonding as a stabilizing force in building of long-range synthon aufbau modules (LSAM) is discussed. The heterotrinuclear coordination compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR and UV–Vis spectroscopy, thermal analysis, photoluminescence measurements, X-ray crystallography and Hirshfeld surface analyses.