In this paper, we show a strategy to modify salphen-type Schiff base ligands with naphtol (SYML1) and pyrocathecol (2,3-dihydroxyphenyl) groups (SYML2), or a combination of both (ASYML). Each of these ligands can be used to obtain polynuclear metal complexes following two different strategies. One relies on using metals that are either too large for the N2O2 cavity or not fond of coordination number 4 and the other one relies on forcing the polynuclear species by adding functional groups to the hydroxybenzaldehayde in order to have extra coordination sites in the ligand. We report and characterize the mononuclear complexes SYML1-Cu and SYML1-Ce, along with the dinuclear complex SYML1-Fe and the tetranuclear species SYML2-Mn. The asymmetric ligand ASYML routinely hydrolyzes into the symmetric ligands in the reaction mixtures. SYML1-Fe displays a nearly linear Fe-O-Fe bridge with very strong antiferromagnetic coupling between the Fe(III) ions.
Keywords: Schiff bases; magnetic compounds; polynuclear complexes; salphen-type ligands; symmetric ligands.