Two Schiff-base-type ligands containing terminal carboxyl groups were synthesized by condensation of p-aminobenzoic acid with p-phthalaldehyde and m-phthalaldehyde. Under certain conditions, transition metal ions ferric(III), cobalt(II), nickel(II), copper(II), and zinc(II) were complexed with these ligands and a series of complex materials with nano-structures were obtained. Modern characterization methods including IR, XRD, TEM and SEM were employed to analyze the structures and properties of such materials. Photoluminescence properties of the complexes were tested by fluorescence spectroscopy. Compared with Schiff base ligands, most of the complexes were fluorescence quenching, but zinc complexes had favorable fluorescence response, others even had better fluorescence intensity than their ligands, which indicated that they were a kind of fluorescence enhancement materials. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) on the prepared nano-structural complex materials as substrate was investigated by using 2-mercaptobenzothiazole as the probe molecule. As a result, some nano-structural complex materials with rough surfaces had certain SERS effects.

Key words: Schiff base, nano-structural complex material, fluorescence property, SERS