Halide-bridged polymers of d-block metals with pyridine- and pyrazine-type donor ligands or cations

DATE:  Thursday, 12 November 2015

TIME:  10:30

VENUE:  Seminar Room 1, Room 4-63, Level 4, Merensky Library

ABSTRACT:

Both coordination- and ionic compounds that combine metal halides and organic moieties have attracted much attention recently, due to the possible retention and combination of desired inherent properties of both constitutional moieties, which then renders these material multifunctional with a wide range of potential technological applications. In this study, the dihalides of the divalent d¹⁰ metal cations, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Hg²⁺, were combined with chromophoric benzopyridine and -pyrazine type organic N-donor ligands. The thesis describes the synthesis, structure elucidation by single crystal X-ray diffraction and crystal engineering of 41 novel solid state structures of this type. Zero-, one-, two- and three dimensional compounds were obtained. The immense templating power that lies in the synergism of, seemingly innocent, weak non-covalent interactions, specifically aromatic interactions and cooperative weak hydrogen bonding interactions, were exposed, and contributes greatly towards the comprehension of factors that determine connectivity and chain conformation, to ultimately result in structural control and effective design of these materials.

ENQUIRIES:  Dr Melanie Rademeyer, 012 420 2511