Visible light driven photodegradation of methylene blue with two reduced Schiff base complexes of zinc(II): Exploration of their phosphatase mimicking ability

( )Two dinuclear zinc(II) complexes, [(SCN)Zn(L)(mu(1,3)-OAc)Zn(DMSO)] (1) and [(dca)Zn(L)(mu(1,3)-OAc)Zn(DMSO)] (2), {H2L = 2,2'-[(2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediyl)bis(iminomethylene)]bis[6-ethoxy-phenol]and dca = dicyanamide} have been synthesized and characterized. X-ray crystallographic analyses have confirmed their structures. Both the complexes have shown excellent phosphatase mimicking activity {k(cat similar to) 266 h (1) for complex 1 and 204 h (1) for complex 2 at 298 K}, evaluated spectrophotometrically by monitoring the increase in absorbance at similar to 425 nm, indicating the gradual release of 4-nitrophenolate by the hydrolysis of 4-nitrophenylphosphate ester with time, when 4-NPP (disodium 4-nitrophenylphosphatehexahydrate) has been used as substrate. Both complexes have also been found to be efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue (MB). The degradation efficiency reaches to similar to 90% (for both complexes) using 15 mg of catalyst in 100 mL 20 mg/L MB solution within 35 min. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.