Synthesis, spectroscopic, structural and thermal characterizations of [(C7H6NO4)2TeBr6·4H2O]

Tellurium (IV) complexes with pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate ligand were synthesized by slow evaporation from aqueous solutions yielding a new compound: [(C7H6NO4)2TeBr6·4H2O]. The structure of this compound was solved and refined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The compound is centrosymmetric P21/c (N°: 14) with the parameters a = 8.875(5) Å, b = 15.174(5) Å, c = 10.199(5) Å, β = 94.271° (5) and Z = 2. The structure consists of isolated H2O, isolated [TeBr6]2− octahedral anions and (pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate) [C7H6NO4]+ cations. The stability of the structure was ensured by ionic and hydrogen bonding contacts (N–H⋯Br and O–H⋯Br) and Van-Der Walls interaction. The thermal decomposition of the compound was studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The FTIR and Raman spectroscopy at different temperatures confirm the existence of vibrational modes that correspond to the organic, inorganic and water molecular groups. Additionally, the UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectrum was recorded in order to investigate the band gap nature. The measurements show that this compound exhibits a semiconducting behavior with an optical band gap of 2.66 eV