Influence of structural variation of salamo‐based ligand on supramolecular architectures, Hirshfeld analyses, and fluorescence properties of new tetranuclear NiII complexes

Two new tetranuclear Ni II complexes, [Ni 4 (L 1 ) 2 (N 3 ) 4 (MeOH) 2 ]·CH 3 COCH 3 (1) and [Ni 4 (L 2 ) 2 (N 3 ) 4 (MeOH) 2 ]·4CH 3 COCH 3 (2) , were synthesized using NiCl 2 ·6H 2 O, NaN 3 , and asymmetric salamo‐based ligands H 2 L 1 and H 2 L 2 , respectively. The structural characterization was made by elemental analyses, infrared (IR) and ultraviolet‐visible (UV‐vis) spectra, and X‐ray diffraction analyses. The results of X‐ray diffraction analyses show that the Ni II atoms in complexes 1 and 2 are distorted octahedral geometries. Interestingly, the degree of distortion of the ligands in complexes 1 and 2 is different, which indicates that the interaction of Ni II ions on different ligands is different. Meanwhile, the investigation of molecular packing by employing the Hirshfeld surface analysis exhibits that the percentages of C–H/H–C, O–H/H–O, and H–H/H–H contacts of the complex 1 (or 2 ) are calculated to be 17.7%, 7.9%, and 53.7% (or 18.8%, 13.8%, and 52.5%), respectively, where the H–H/H–H contacts have the characteristics of strong contacts whereas the O–H/H–O hydrogen bonds are considerably weak, and the studies on fluorescence properties further confirm the Ni II atoms have different binding abilities to the different ligands.