Abstract:
Under anhydrous conditions, nickeltrisethylenediamine salts condense with acetone to form yellow or orange diamagnetic salts containing azo-methine groups. N.F.Curtis, Thesis, University of New Zealand, 1954. During the reaction, one ethylenediamine ligand is lost per molecule of complex, and two, three or four acetone groups may be incorporated in the molecule. These complexes were initially thought to be isopropylidene derivatives involving a direct condensation between a molecule of ketone and the primary amine group.
The compounds containing two and four acetone residues are remarkably stable to hydrolysis. However, Schiff base compounds are readily susceptible to aqueous and acid hydrolysis. On the basis of this, and the steric hindrance involved M.Blight, Thesis, University of New Zealand, 1959. between methyl groups in adjacent azo-methine groups e.g. (l) and (2), the above structural type seems improbable.
