High-pressure studies of palladium and platinum thioether macrocyclic dihalide complexes

What is it about?

Metal complexes can be affected in many different ways by pressures of up to 100,000 atmospheres: the geometry at the metal centre and elsewhere in the complex can be modified, crystals can change colour, physical properties such as conductivity may be modified and there may be associated spectroscopic or electronic changes. In this paper we look at the effects of pressure on a family of six related metal complexes.

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Why is it important?

We were able to divide the six complexes into three distinct groups on the basis of their behaviour under pressure. All the molecules join up to form chains, but one complex has a rich repertoire of responses and shows extensive changes in geometry and a dramatic colour change from orange to black. Three of the complexes only show limited geometric changes, but the last two form two-dimensional networks of molecules when compressed. We also carried out theoretical calculations on the complexes.