[nameraser]

Hello fellow chemists,

I am a student going for a Ph.D in Pharmaceutical analysis. I officially start next week, but I have been doing research in the lab to get a head start.

I've been trying to synthesize a vanadium(IV) complex with schiff base ligands. I thought I was doing alright, until the sudden realization today that I am a lazy and extremely idiotic person.

I have been dissolving VOSO4 in a 20% Water in Ethanol solution. Then adding the starting materials for the ligand along with .1 mL of ammonia water.

When the ammonia water is added. The mixture turns dark and with about an hour of refluxing a supple amount of precipitate is formed.

My seniors were telling me that I had formed the complex. Being a naive and inexperienced student, I thought I had produced the desired product just like that.

After a period of time (which seems way to long), I came to the conclusion today that what I have been doing is oxidizing the vanadium sulfate, which is giving the solution a green color and causing the precipitation.

I'm trying to start from the bottom, but I could definitely use some help.

What kind of conditions (solvent, pH, catalyst, heat/noheat) would I need to form a Vanadium (IV) Schiff base complex?

Thank you very much for reading. My first post!

I'm not giving up.