Crystal structures of two different cobalt(III) complexes with di-2-pyridyl ketone grown from methanol-bis-(methoxy-bis(2-pyridyl)methanolato-O,N,N′)-cobalt(III) nitrate trihydrate and (hydroxy-bis(2-pyridyl)methanolato-O,N,N′)-(methoxy-bis(2-pyridyl)methanolato-O,N,N′)-cobalt(III) nitrate trihydrate

The reaction of [Co(NH3)(4)CO3]NO3 and di-2-pyridyl ketone (dpk) in methanol yielded two products-red plates of bis(methoxy-bis(2-pyridyl)methanolato-O,N,N')-cobalt(III) nitrate trihydrate and red parallelepipeds of (hydroxy-bis(2-pyridyl)methanolato-O,N,N')-(methoxy-bis(2-pyridyl)methanolato-O,N,N')-cobalt(III) nitrate trihydrate. In both complexes, the methanol solvated di-2-pyridyl ketone ligand binds through both pyridyl nitrogens and deprotonated hydroxy oxygens-making these complexes the first non-cluster compounds to bind in this fashion with methanol solvate dpk. The production of parallelpipped crystals of the second compound after redissolving plate crystals of I suggests that the [Co(pdk-CH3O)](2)(+) cation undergoes substitution of a hydroxyl group for methoxy group when there is an introduction of trace water into the system. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.