Synthesis, characterization, crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis of 4 -furyl-2, 2’:6’, 2’’-terpyridine complex of Ni(II): a new precursor toward the formation of nickel oxide nanoparticles

The coordination chemistry of 2, 2′:6′, 2″-terpyridine derivatives is of particular interest due to their applications such as catalyst, biochemistry, anticancer agents and nanoscience [1,2]. Herein, we report the preparation and characterization of a new complex [Ni (ftpy)2](PF6)2 (1) (ftpy = 4 -(furan-2-yl)-2,2 :6 ,2 -terpyridine) which has been characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR and X-ray crystallography. The X-ray crystal structure of 1 shows that nickel (II) ion is hexa-coordinated by six nitrogen atoms from two ftpy ligands with N6 coordination sphere, displaying a distorted octahedral arrangement. Hirshfeld surface analysis and two‐dimensional fingerprint maps were used for 1 which indicate the N…H, H…F and H…H interactions. Thermal properties of 1 were also investigated. On the other hand, nickel(II) oxide nanoparticles were prepared by simple calcination of complex 1 at 600 °C in air. The resulting nanostructures have been characterized using XRD, FESEM and EDX which show the purity of the resulting nanoparticles. Notably, the average particle size using Scherrer’s equation is calculated to be about 27 nm.