Assembling novel heterotrimetallic Cu/Co/Ni and Cu/Co/Cd cores supported by diethanolamine ligand in one-pot reactions of zerovalent copper with metal salts.

The three novel heterotrimetallic complexes [Ni(H2L)2][CoCu(L)2(H2L)(NCS)]2(NCS)2 (1), [Ni(H2L)2][CuCo(L)2(H2L)(NCS)]2Br2.2H2O (2), and [CuCoCd(H2L)2(L)2(NCS)Br2].CH3OH (3) have been prepared using zerovalent copper; cobalt thiocyanate; nickel thiocyanate (1), nickel bromide (2), or cadmium bromide (3); and methanol solutions of diethanolamine in air.