Thermolysis preparation of ZnS nanoparticles from a nano-structure bithiazole zinc(II) coordination compound Akram Hosseinian a,⇑ , Hamid Reza Rahimipour a , Hedayat Haddadi b,c , Ali Akbar Ashkarran d , Ali Reza Mahjoub e a Department of Engineering Science, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11365-4563, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran b Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Shahrekord University, P.O. Box 115, Shahrekord, Islamic Republic of Iran c Nanotechnology Research Center, Shahrekord University, 8818634141 Shahrekord, Islamic Republic of Iran d Department of Physics, Faculty of Basic Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Islamic Republic of Iran e Department of Chemistry, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box 14115-175, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran highlights  New nanoparticles of zinc(II) coordination compound, {[Zn(DADMBTZ) 3 ](SCN) 2 4H 2 O}n, were produced by sonochemical method.  In this compound the metal lies in a pseudo-octahedral environment and is ligated by the three bithiazole ring nitrogens.  ZnS nanostructure was obtained by direct thermolyses of compound {[Zn(DADMBTZ) 3 ](SCN) 2 4H 2 O}n, at 400 °C under argon atmosphere. article info Article history: Received 7 October 2013 Received in revised form 22 April 2014 Accepted 22 April 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: Bithiazole: nano-scale Coordination compound ZnS Sonochemical Thermal studies abstract Nano-scale and single crystals of a new tris-chelate Zn(II) compound, {[Zn(DADMBTZ) 3 ](SCN) 2 4H 2 O} n , (1), {DADMBTZ = 2,2 0 -diamino-5,5 0 -dimethyl-4,4 0 -bithiazole} have been synthesized by the reaction of zinc(II) sulfate, ammonium thiocyanate and DADMBTZ using sonochemical and branched tube methods, respectively. The new nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and FT-IR spectroscopy. Compound (1) was structurally characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Compound (1) form a tris-chelate complex with nearly C 3 symmetry. The coor- dination number of zinc atom in the compound is six with coordinated environments of distorted octa- hedral, ZnN6. In reaction with DADMBTZ, the ligand DADMBTZ acts as bidentate in compound to form five-membered chelate rings with the same internal angles in coordination polyhedron. The crystal pack- ing is mainly stabilized by N–H- - - -N hydrogen bonding interactions. The thermal stability of compound (1) was studied by thermal gravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analyses (DTA). ZnS nanostructures were obtained by direct thermolyses of compound (1) at 400 °C under argon atmosphere. The ZnS nano- particles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Introduction In the past decade, semiconducting nanoparticles have received a considerable attention because of their excellent size dependent electrical and optical properties suitable for applications in optoelectronic devices [1,2]. Among the semiconducting particles, II–VI binary semiconductors are widely used in technological application. In particular, ZnS has a wide band gap of 3.68 eV, it is widely used in cathode ray tubes and field emission display, electroluminescent devices sensors, data storage and photodiodes [3–7]. Several methods have been adopted for the synthesis of nanoparticles, such as wet chemical method, microwave irradia- tion, microemulsion, chemical vapor deposition, laser ablation, solution-based route, thermal decomposition and evaporation [8–13]. ZnS nanostructures with various morphologies have been reported in the literatures, including nanoparticles, nanorods, nanowires and nanospheres [14,12,15,16]. Chemical and physical properties of solid materials strongly depend on both the size and the shape of the microscopic particles http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2014.04.071 0022-2860/Ó 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Department of Engineering Science, University College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11365-4563, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Tel.: +98 21 61111x3601; fax: +98 21 66469809. E-mail address: hoseinian@ut.ac.ir (A. Hosseinian). Journal of Molecular Structure xxx (2014) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Molecular Structure journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/molstruc Please cite this article in press as: A. Hosseinian et al., J. Mol. Struct. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2014.04.071