Author(s)

Jean Jacques Anguile¹, Odette Nana Ngnabeuye², Ndosiri Ndoye Bridget³, Tanyi Rogers Fomuta², Alvine Loris Djoumbissie², Alain Charly Kuate Tagne², Jean Ngoune^2*

¹Department of Chemistry, University of Sciences & Techniques of Masuku, Franceville, Gabon.
²Department of Chemistry, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon.
³Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Yaounde 1, Yaounde, Cameroon.

Two novel coordination compounds, [Zn(L)₂(OOCH)₂] (1) and [Zn(L)₃(OCHO)](OCHO)]·H₂O (2) (where L = 2-isopropylimidazole, C₆H₁₀N₂) have been prepared by reaction of 2-isopropylimidazole with zinc(II) formate at room temperature using toluene as solvent. These compounds were characterized by elemental and thermal analyses, IR, ¹HNMR and ¹³CNMR spectroscopies, single crystal X-ray diffraction and DFT studies. The Zn centers in 1 and 2 adopt pseudo-tetrahedral coordination geometries. Compound 1 crystallizes in the monoclinic system P2/c space group whereas compound 2 crystallizes in the P-1 space group of the triclinic crystal system. Several types of hydrogen intra-/intermolecular interactions are observed in these materials and extend into a two-dimensional leaf like network in 1 and a two-dimensional lattice of rectilinear pillars in 2. Compounds 1 and 2 were also optimized and their frontier molecular orbitals, global reactivity descriptors, molecular electrostatic potential, natural bond orbitals were investigated using density functional theory (DFT). In fact the induced structural differences from complex 1 to complex 2 led to the reduction of the frontier molecular orbital energy gap by 1.338 eV and a decrease of the chemical hardness by 0.669 eV.

Zinc(II) Complexes of 2-Isopropylimidazole, Thermogravimetric Analysis, ¹H-MR, ¹³C-MR, Crystal Structure, DFT Studies

Anguile, J. , Ngnabeuye, O. , Bridget, N. , Fomuta, T. , Djoumbissie, A. , Kuate Tagne, A. and Ngoune, J. (2018) Synthesis, Characterization and DFT Studies of Two Zinc(II) Complexes Based on 2-Isopropylimidazole. Open Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, 8, 105-124. doi: 10.4236/ojic.2018.84009.