Scorpionates are versatile and flexible ligands with a wide range of applications including catalysis, C-H bond activation, formation of new class of materials, and mimicking enzymatic reactions. This is as a result of its steric and electronic properties, and due to the relative ease with which the 3, and 5-positions of the pyrazole ring can be functionalized. In this work, we report the synthesis of a new class of scorpionate ligands known as cyanoscorpionates which can crosslink various metal centers. Thus, bis (4-cyano-3,5-diphenylpyrazolyl)borate BpPh2,4CN was synthesized and fully characterized by 1H NMR and FT-IR. Coordination of bis (4-cyano-3,5-diphenylpyrazolyl)borate BpPh2,4CN to thallium (I) metal was performed and characterized and we are looking to elucidating its molecular structure by X-ray crystallography in future.

A new cyanoscorpionate - tris(4-cyano-3,5-diphenylpyrazolyl)borate (TpPh2,4CN) has been synthesized and characterized. The thallium complex of this ligand TlTpPh2,4CN has also been prepared and characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR, and single-crystal X-ray-diffraction. The complex TlTpPh2,4CN crystalized in the monoclinic space group C2/c with unit cell a = 14.6697(10) Å, b = 13.9493(10) Å, c = 19.3347(12) Å, and b= 91.761(2)°. Structural comparison of TlTpPh2,4CN with analogous complexes demonstrated the effects of both steric and electron-withdrawing substituents on coordination geometry and the electronic properties of the metal ion. There were short contacts between the cyano groups and neighboring thallium ions that also indicated the ligand’s potential to form coordination polymers.