X-ray structure and magnetic and fluorescence characteristics of new Cu(ii) complexes with Schiff bases derived from 2-(2-aminoethyl)pyridine and 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde; morphology and fluorescence of their thin filmsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: UV-Vis spectra, thermograms AFM images of layers. CCDC 1568987, 1824509 and 1834036. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c8dt03208d

Cu( ii ) complexes with tridentate Schiff bases derived from 2-(2-aminoethyl)pyridine and 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde and COO − , Cl − and NO 3 − as ligands were obtained and characterized by crystal and molecular, spectroscopic (UV-Vis, fluorescence, IR, and EPR), magnetic and thermal methods. The X-ray crystal structure analysis revealed a distorted square planar geometry for [Cu( ii )(PEMN)CH 3 COO]CHCl 3 , 1 , and [Cu( ii )(PEMN)Cl], 2 , and a distorted square-pyramidal geometry for [Cu( ii )(PEMN)NO 3 ], 3 , corresponding to the values of EPR g -matrix diagonal components. The copper( ii ) complexes exhibited fluorescence in solution in the range of 370-410 nm. Thin layers of the studied copper( ii ) complexes were deposited on Si(111) by a spin coating method and studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM/EDS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and fluorescence spectroscopy. For copper( ii ) layers ( 2 /Si), the most intense fluorescence band from an intraligand and a d-d transition between 490 and 550 nm was observed. Three novel copper( ii ) complexes with PEMN were used in the spin coating method to get thin, fluorescent films.