Chloro-Iron and Cobalt Complexes with Functionalized Quadridentate Schiff-Base Salen Ligands: Synthesis, Characterization and DFT Calculations

New series of penta-coordinated complexes of iron (II) and cobalt(III) (9-14) bearing quadridentate Schif base salicylideneimine based ligands (5-8) were prepared and characterized by their physical properties and spectroscopic methods of analysis. The new salenes contain either chloro or methyl groups on the phenyl back bone and chloro or diethylamine on the terminal phenyl groups. The structural parameters and charge distribution as well as the influence of the electron withdrawing (EWG)/ electron releasing (ERG) substituents were evaluated via density functional theory (DFT). The data revealed that changing either the metal center or the substituents on the ligand affect the structural parameters, charge distribution, and the M-Cl bond length