Homoleptic Coordination Polymers and Complexes of Transition Metals with 2-(1,2,4-1H-triazol-3-yl) pyridine and Tuning towards White-Light Emission

Twelve coordination compounds ranging from polymers to complexes based on divalent ions of the 3d-transition metals Mn to Zn, and Cd together with the ligand 2-(1,2,4-1H-triazol-3-yl)pyridine (Hpt) were synthesised and fully characterised. The main products are homoleptic, one-dimensional coordination polymers 1∞[M(pt)2] (M = Mn-Zn, and Cd, pt = 3-(pyridin-2-yl)-1,2,4-triazolate), 1∞[Cu(pt)2]·0.5Py, besides complexes [MX2(Hpt)2] from MnCl2, FeCl2, CoCl2, CoBr2, ZnCl2, and Hpt = 2-(1,2,4-1H-triazol-3-yl)pyridine. In addition to these series, single crystalline by-products of the reactions were identified and their structures determined. The obtained products were investigated with single-crystal (SCXRD) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), including temperature-dependent PXRD, physisorption experiments, UV-Vis, IR, and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), simultaneous thermal analysis, and elemental analysis. Based on 1∞[Zn(pt)2], it was possible to generate a white light-emitting compound by addition of Eu3+ and Tb3+. It follows the RGB concept with blue ligand-based emission of the coordination polymer and red/green emission of lanthanide ions and shows excitation dependent tuneable character of emission colour from blue to practically perfect white.