Photoelectron spectra and electronic structure of nitrogen analogues of boron β-diketonates with aromatic substituents

Highlights: • The electronic structures of three nitrogen analogues of boron β-diketonates have been investigated. • UV photoelectron spectra have been interpreted. • The structure of the UV photoelectron spectra is in good agreement with the energies and compositions of Kohn-Sham orbitals. - Abstract: The electronic structure of three nitrogen analogoues of boron β-diketonates containing aromatic substituents was studied by the ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy and within the density functional theory. In order to determine effects of heteroatom substitution in the chelate ligand, a comparative analysis was carried out for the electronic structure of three model compounds. In a range of model compounds, the HOMO's nature was revealed to be the same. The HOMO-1 orbital of nitrogen containing compounds is determined by the presence of lone electron pairs of nitrogen. In a range of the complexes under study, the influence of aromatic substituents on the electronic structure was defined. In the imidoylamidinate complex, in contrast to formazanates and β-diketonates, it was found the absence of any noticeable mixing of π-orbitals of the chelate and benzene rings. It was shown that within energy range to 11 eV, the calculated results reproduce well the energy differences between the ionized states of complexes.