Preparation and Electronic Property Investigation of Zinc(II)‎-Schiff Base Complexes in the Confined Space

Abstract EN

Metal-Schiff base complexes have attracted continued research interest regarding their intriguing and useful features, while the electronic properties of these complexes in the confined space have not been sufficiently addressed in previous studies.

In this work, a new zinc(II)-Schiff base complex bis(N-dodecyl salicylideneiminato)Zn(II) (1) was synthesized and subsequently loaded in an inorganic solid host.

A large red shift (~40 nm) of the absorption onset was recorded, when the microenvironment of 1 changed from the solvent ethanol to the inorganic solid medium, evidencing the confined space effect.

The marked shift of the absorption onset was associated with a band-gap reduction between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO).

Theoretical calculation results showed that the confined space effect is distance dependent and exerts a more profound influence on the HOMO than the LUMO within an effective distance range.

An initial study implied that the confined space effect is also accompanied with the electron density variation.