In our attempts to prepare coordination polymers by reaction of FeCl3·6H2O and Ni(OH)2 in the presence of dithiolenes HSC6H2X2SH (X = Cl or H), several ion pairs of compounds containing the anionic entity [Ni(SC6H2X2S)2]- were obtained instead. It was also found that other species without dithiolene ligands were formed in these reactions, giving rise to different ion pairs and a tetrametallic cluster. The careful isolation of the different types of crystalline solids allowed the characterization of all of the resulting compounds by single crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD). In order to establish the amount of nickel and iron present in the crystals, complementary total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) analyses were performed. The eight different structural types that were obtained are described and compared with related ones found in the literature.
Keywords: crystal structure analysis; ion-pair compounds; iron-nickel coordination compounds; total reflection X-ray fluorescence analyses; transition metal dithiolene compounds.