Solid state and solution NMR, X-ray and antimicrobial studies of 1:1 and 2:1 complexes of silver(I) cyanide with alkanediamine ligands

Several complexes of AgCN with alkanediamine ligands (where the ligands are ethylenediamine, propane-1,3-diamine, butane-1,4-diamine, N,N′-dimethyl-ethylenediamine, N,N′-di-iso-propyl-ethylenediamine, etc.) have been synthesized and structurally characterized. In these species, alkanediamine ligands act as chelating ligands. The X-ray structure of the complex cyano-(N,N′-di-iso-propyl-ethylenediamine)–silver(I) was determined. These complexes have been also characterized by IR, solution as well as solid-state NMR studies. There are two types of IR absorptions observed for mono and dinuclear complexes. For the mono nuclear complexes, a sharp CN band is observed between 2111 and 2131 cm−1 range, whereas for binuclear complexes the bands are in the range 2136–2140 cm−1. The effect of the size of the ligands as well as their substituents is discussed. The antimicrobial activity studies of AgCN and its complexes show that the former exhibits substantial antibacterial activities compared to its complexes.