Reduction in Coordination Number of Eu(III) on Complexation with Pyrazine Mono- and Di-Carboxylates in Aqueous Medium

The denticity, flexibility, and steric hindrance of the ligand are key factors in deciding the mode and number of coordination around a metal ion on complex formation. The thermodynamic aspects of lanthanide complexation with various multidentate ligands provides a significant insight into understand the coordination chemistry of lanthanides in framing the relevant metal organic networks for the applications in biological, biochemical and medical aspects. The pyrazine carboxylic acids are known to form many structurally important complexes and further can form chelates with coordination number of eight for europium in which more water molecules can be knocked out from the primary coordination sphere than demanded by denticity of the ligand. The present studies aimed at ESI-MS characterization and determination of the thermodynamic parameters (log β, ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS), luminescence properties of europium complexes with pyrazine-2-carboxylate and pyrazine-2,3-dicarboxylate in aqueous solutions by experiment as well as theory. Time resolved luminescence spectroscopy supported by DFT calculations are carried out to optimize the stable geometries of the complexes with various modes of binding and coordination. Furthermore, the thermodynamic parameters estimated theoretically have been used to trace the path of complex formation.