Two novel salen ligands, N,N¢-bis[4-[[2-(trimethylammonio)ethyl]oxy]salicylidene]-o-phenyldia- mine diperchlorate (L¹) and N-[(2-hydroxy-5-methyldibenzophenyl)methyl]-N¢-[4-[[2-(trimethylammonio)- ethyl]oxy]salicylidene]-o-phenyldiamine perchlorate (L²), and their metal complexes (ZnL¹, NiL¹, CuL¹, ZnL², NiL², CuL², MnL² and CoL²) were synthesized and characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, FT-IR, UV-vis, MS etc. Molar conductance of the eight metal complexes in water was measured. Water-solubility of the metal salen complexes is much higher than that of their parent complexes.

Key words: novel salen complex, synthesis, characterization, spectral property, molar conductance, water-solubility