Syntheses, crystal structures and properties of tetra-kis-(3-methyl-pyridine-κ)bis-(iso-thio-cyanato-κ)manganese(II) and tetra-kis-(3-methyl-pyridine-κ)bis-(iso-thio-cyanato-κ)iron(II).

The reaction of Mn(NCS) or Fe(NCS) with 3-methyl-pyridine (CHN) leads to the formation of two isostructural compounds with compositions [Mn(NCS)(CHN)] () and [Fe(NCS)(CHN)] (). IR spectroscopic investigations indicate that only terminally coordinated thio-cyanate anions are present. This is confirmed by single-crystal structure analysis, which shows that their crystal structures consist of discrete centrosymmetric complexes, in which the metal cations are octa-hedrally coordinated by two N-bonded thio-cyanate anions and four 3-methyl-pyridine ligands. X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) proves that pure samples have been obtained. Thermogravimetric measurements show that decomposition starts at about 90°C and that the two coligands are removed in one step for whereas for no clearly resolved steps are visible. XRPD measurements of the residue obtained after the first mass loss of show that a new and unknown crystalline compound has been formed.