Charge and Spin States in Schiff Base Metal Complexes with a Disiloxane Unit Exhibiting a Strong Noninnocent Ligand Character: Synthesis, Structure, Spectroelectrochemistry, and Theoretical Calculations

Mononuclear nickel­(II), copper­(II), and manganese­(III) complexes with a noninnocent tetradentate Schiff base ligand containing a disiloxane unit were prepared in situ by reaction of 3,5-di-<i>tert</i>-butyl-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde with 1,3-bis­(3-aminopropyl)­tetramethyldisiloxane followed by addition of the appropriate metal­(II) salt. The ligand H₂L resulting from these reactions is a 2:1 condensation product of 3,5-di-<i>tert</i>-butyl-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde with 1,3-bis­(3-aminopropyl)­tetramethyldisiloxane. The resulting metal complexes, NiL·0.5CH₂Cl₂, CuL·1.5H₂O, and MnL­(OAc)·0.15H₂O, were characterized by elemental analysis, spectroscopic methods (IR, UV–vis, X-band EPR, HFEPR, ¹H NMR), ESI mass spectrometry, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Taking into account the well-known strong stabilizing effects of <i>tert</i>-butyl groups in positions 3 and 5 of the aromatic ring on phenoxyl radicals, we studied the one-electron and two-electron oxidation of the compounds using both experimental (chiefly spectroelectrochemistry) and computational (DFT) techniques. The calculated spin-density distribution and localized orbitals analysis revealed the oxidation locus and the effect of the electrochemical electron transfer on the molecular structure of the complexes, while time-dependent DFT calculations helped to explain the absorption spectra of the electrochemically generated species. Hyperfine coupling constants, <i>g</i>-tensors, and zero-field splitting parameters have been calculated at the DFT level of theory. Finally, the CASSCF approach has been employed to theoretically explore the zero-field splitting of the <i>S</i> = 2 MnL­(OAc) complex for comparison purposes with the DFT and experimental HFEPR results. It is found that the <i>D</i> parameter sign strongly depends on the metal coordination geometry