Some novel four coordinated nanostructure zinc Schiff base complexes: Thermal behavior and antimicrobial

Nanometer-size particles of metal coordination complexes enhance their physical and chemical properties that may be due to the large number of surface molecules when are compared with non-nanostructure compounds [1]. Schiff base ligands are considered as very important compounds because of their attractive electronic, chemical, and biological properties [2]. In the last years, most considerable interest has been focused on these compounds, revealing potential applications of them in industrial, medical, biological, and catalysis fields [3].In this study, a new series of zinc halide/pseudohalide complexes with a novel Schiff base ligand containing 1,3-propanediamine and 3-(4-methoxyphenyl)propenal has been successfully synthesized. The structure of the ligand and its complexes was characterized by analysis tools such as Fourier transform infrared, UV‐visible, proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, molar conductance, and thermal analysis. The zinc compounds in nano-structure size were also prepared by sonochemical method. The nano-structure compounds were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, the antimicrobial activity of the ligand and its zinc complexes against four gram positive and gram negative bacteria and also two fungi was assessed. Also the zinc complexes were used as precursor for the preparation of zinc oxide nanoparticles.