complexes of 5-nitro-salicylaldehyde and α-diimines: Synthesis, structure and interaction with calf-thymus DNA, Journal of Coordination Chemistry, Five Cd(II) complexes with the anion of 5-NO 2 -salicylaldehydeH (5-NO 2 -saloH) in the absence or presence of the α-diimine 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), 2,2'-dipyridylamine (dpamH), 2,2'-dipyridine (bipy) or 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (neoc) were synthesized and characterized as (2), [Cd(5-NO 2 -salo) 2 (dpamΗ)] (3), [Cd 3 (5-NO 2 -salo) 6 (bipy) 2 ] (4) and [Cd(5-NO 2salo)(neoc)(NO 3 )] 2 (5). Based on spectroscopic results (IR, UV, NMR), elemental analysis and conductivity measurements an octahedral geometry around cadmium metal ion is suggested, with the 5-NO 2 -salicylaldehyde ligand having different coordination modes. The structures determined by X-ray crystallography verified neutral mononuclear 1-3 and trinuclear 4.Simultaneous TG/DTG-DTA technique was used to analyze the thermal behavior of 1, 2 and 3.The complexes bind tightly to calf-thymus DNA mainly by intercalation, as concluded by DNAviscosity measurements and exhibit significant displacement of EB from the EB-DNA complex.