New zinc and magnesium complexes of N-(2-carboxyphenyl)salicylidenimine) were synthesized and structurally characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, and X-ray single-crystal analysis. These complexes exhibit tuneable luminescence in the solid state from blue to green by varying by metal ion and composition. Moreover, the quantum yields range from 0.11 to 0.41, while lifetimes were determined to be in the nanosecond timescale. Thermal analysis shows that these complexes exhibit good thermal stability and can therefore well be used as electroluminescent materials.
Keywords: Schiff base ligands; luminescence; saliciylidenamide complex.