Reaction of mercury(II) acetate [Hg(Ac)2] or mercury(II) chloride [HgCl2] with two moles equivalent of Na[bit] (bit = benzisothiozolinate) afforded [Hg(bit)2] as white solid in 96 and 70% yield respectively. Treatment of [Hg(bit)2] with the bidentate ligands; 2,2-bipyridine (bipy), 1, 10-phenanthroline (phen) or ethylene diamine (en) in absolute ethanol afforded the complexes; [Hg(bit)2(bipy)], [Hg(bit)2(phen)] or [Hg(bit)2(en)] as white solids in 82–88% yields. The crystal structures of [Hg(bit)2(bipy)] and [Hg(bit)2(phen)] were determined, each showing a distorted tetrahedral geometry around mercury with the two benzisothiazolinate (bit) ligands being coordinated via nitrogen atom and lying almost perpendicular to each other. Reactions of [Hg(bit)2] with two moles equivalent of Ph3P in absolute EtOH at room temperature or one mole equivalent of 1,3-is(diphenylphosphino)propane (dppp) in boiling CHCl3, afford [Hg(bit)2(Ph3P)2] and a (2:1) mixture of [Hg(bit)2(κ2-dppp)] and [Hg(bit)2(μ2-dppp)]n. Treatment of [Hg(bit)2] with bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm), afford [Hg(mbm)2] (Hmbm = 2-mercaptobenzamide), while treatment with bis(diphenylphosphino)butane afford [Hg(mbm)2(dppb)]. A sulfur-nitrogen bond breaking within the heterocyclic ring of the bit ligand took place followed by protonation of the nitrogen atom to afford the final product.

We would like to thank Tikrit University for partial support of this work.

Peer reviewed