Synthesis and Characterization of Tetradentate N2O2 Schiff Base Ligand and its Rare Earth Metal Complexes

The solid complexes of La(III), Ce(III), Pr(III), Nd(III), Sm(III) and Gd(III) with 4-hydroxy-3-(1-{2-(2,4-dihydroxy- benzylidene)-amino phenylimino}-ethyl)-6-methyl-pyran-2-one (H2L) derived from o-phenylenediamine, 3-acetyl-6methyl-(2H) pyran, 2,4(3H)-dione (dehydroacetic acid or DHA) and 2, 4-dihydroxy benzaldehyde have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, conductometry, magnetic susceptibility, UV-visible, FT-IR, H-1-NMR, X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis study, and screened for antimicrobial activity. The FT-IR spectral data suggest that the ligand behaves as a dibasic tetradentate ligand with ONNO donor atoms sequence towards central metal ion. From the microanalytical data, the stoichiometry of the complexes has been found to be 1:1 (metal: ligand). The physico-chemical data suggests distorted octahedral geometry for La(III), Ce(III), Pr(III), Nd(III), Sm(III) and Gd(III) complexes. The X-ray diffraction data suggests monoclinic crystal system for La(III) and Ce(III) and orthorombic crystal system for Pr(III) and Nd(III) complexes. Thermal behavior (TG/DTA) of the complexes was studied and kinetic parameters were determined by Horowitz-Metzger and Coats-Redfern methods. The ligand and its metal complexes were screened for antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus Sp. and fungicidal activity against Aspergillus Niger, Trichoderma and Fusarium oxysporum.