Julia Kłak

Copper(II) Coordination Polymers Self-Assembled from Aminoalcohols and Pyromellitic Acid: Highly Active Precatalysts for the Mild Water-Promoted Oxidation of Alkanes

Three novel water-soluble 2D copper(II) coordination polymers-[{Cu2(μ2-dmea)2(H2O)}2(μ4-pma)]n·4nH2O (1), [{Cu2(μ2-Hedea)2}2(μ4-pma)]n·4nH2O (2), and [{Cu(bea)(Hbea)}4(μ4-pma)]n·2nH2O (3)-were generated by an aqueous medium self-assembly method from copper(II) nitrate, pyromellitic acid (H4pma), and different aminoalcohols [N,N-dimethylethanolamine (Hdmea), N-ethyldiethanolamine (H2edea), and N-benzylethanolamine (Hbea)]. Compounds 2 and 3 represent the first coordination polymers derived from H2edea and Hbea. All the products were characterized by infrared (IR), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and ultraviolet-visible light (UV-vis) spectroscopy, electrospray ionization-mass spectroscopy (ESI-MS(±)), thermogravimetric and elemental analysis, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD), which revealed that their two-dimensional (2D) metal-organic networks are composed of distinct dicopper(II) or monocopper(II) aminoalcoholate units and μ4-pyromellitate spacers. From the topological viewpoint, the underlying 2D nets of 1-3 can be classified as uninodal 4-connected layers with the sql topology. The structures of 1 and 2 are further extended by multiple intermolecular hydrogen bonds, resulting in three-dimensional (3D) hydrogen-bonded networks with rare or unique topologies. The obtained compounds also act as highly efficient precatalysts for the mild homogeneous oxidation, by aqueous H2O2 in acidic MeCN/H2O medium, of various cycloalkanes to the corresponding alcohols and ketones. Overall product yields up to 45% (based on cycloalkane) were attained and the effects of various reaction parameters were investigated, including the type of precatalyst and acid promoter, influence of water, and substrate scope. Although water usually strongly inhibits the alkane oxidations, a very pronounced promoting behavior of H2O was detected when using the precatalyst 1, resulting in a 15-fold growth of an initial reaction rate in the cyclohexane oxidation on increasing the amount of H2O from ∼4 M to 17 M in the reaction mixture, followed by a 2-fold product yield growth.

New tricopper(II) cores self-assembled from aminoalcohol biobuffers and homophthalic acid: synthesis, structural and topological features, magnetic properties and mild catalytic oxidation of cyclic and linear C5–C8 alkanes

Two new crystalline materials [Cu3(μ2-H3bis-tris)2(μ2-Hhpa)2]·H2O (1) and [Cu3(μ2-H2tea)2(μ2-hpa)(μ3-hpa)]n (2) bearing distinct tricopper(II) cores were easily generated by the aqueous medium self-assembly method from copper(II) nitrate, bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino-tris(hydroxymethyl)methane (H5bis-tris) or triethanolamine (H3tea) aminoalcohol biobuffers and homophthalic acid (H2hpa). The obtained products were characterised by IR, UV-vis and EPR spectroscopy, ESI-MS(±), thermogravimetric, elemental and single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Apart from possessing different dimensionality, the crystal structures of the discrete 0D trimer 1 and the zigzag 1D coordination polymer 2 show distinct symmetric [Cu3(μ-O)4(μ-COO)2] and asymmetric [Cu3(μ-O)3(μ-COO)2] tricopper(II) cores, respectively. An intense pattern of intermolecular O–H⋯O hydrogen bonds provides a 0D → 3D (1) or 1D → 2D (2) extension of the structures into intricate topologically unique H-bonded nets. After additional simplification, these were classified as a uninodal 6-connected 3D framework with the snk topology in 1 and a binodal 3,5-connected 2D layer with the 3,5L50 topology in 2. Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility studies indicate a predominant ferromagnetic coupling [J = 39.1(1) and 29.5(1) cm−1 for 1 and 2, respectively] within the mixed-bridged tricopper(II) cores. Both compounds 1 and 2 were also applied as rather efficient bio-inspired pre-catalysts for the mild homogeneous oxidation, by aqueous H2O2 at 50 °C in acidic MeCN–H2O medium, of cyclic (cyclopentane, cyclohexane, cycloheptane and cyclooctane) and linear (n-pentane, n-hexane, n-heptane and n-octane) alkanes to the corresponding alcohols and ketones with overall yields up to 26% based on the alkane. The effects of different reaction parameters (type of pre-catalyst and acid promoter, reaction time and substrate scope) and various selectivity features were investigated and discussed, supporting a free-radical mechanism in the present alkane oxidations.

Trinuclear thiocyanate-bridged compounds of the type [ML]2[Mn(NCS)4](ClO4)2 (where M = Cu(II), Ni(II); L = N-dl-5,7,7,12,14,14-hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradeca-4,11-diene)

The complexes of general formula [ML]2[Mn(NCS)4](ClO4)2 (where M = Cu(II), Ni(II); L = N-dl-5,7,7,12,14,14-hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradeca-4,11-diene) were obtained and the crystal structures of both heteronuclear compounds were determined at 173 K. Complex [CuL]2[Mn(NCS)4](ClO4)2 (1) crystallizes in a monoclinic space group, C2/c, with a = 41.297(9) A, b = 7.571(2) A, c = 16.417(4) A, beta = 96.97(15) degrees, Z = 8, whereas complex [NiL]2[Mn(NCS)4](ClO4)2.H2O (2) crystallizes in a monoclinic space group, P2/c, with a = 21.018(5) A, b = 7.627(2) A, c = 16.295(4) A, beta = 104.47(1) degrees, Z = 4. The magnetic behaviour of (1) and (2) has been investigated over the temperature range 1.8-300 K. Complex (1) displays ferromagnetic coupling inside the trinuclear core of CuMnCu and compound (2) behaves like a mononuclear Mn(II) system. The magnetic properties of the second compound (2) with a similar trinuclear structure shows that Ni(II) ions have a diamagnetic character and a rather weak zero-field splitting at the central Mn(II) ion occurs. Finally, the magnitudes of the Cu(II)-M(II) interactions with M = Ni and Mn have been compared and qualitatively justified.

Synthesis and characterization of CuII–LnIII (Ln = Ho, Tm, Yb, or Lu) complexes with N2O4-donor Schiff base ligand

The heterodinuclear complexes [CuLnL(NO3)2(H2O)3MeOH]NO3·MeOH (Ln = Ho (1), Tm (2), Yb (3), and Lu (4); L = N,N′-bis(5-bromo-3-methoxysalicylidene)propylene-1,3-diamine) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, thermogravimetric (TG)/differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), TG-FTIR, single crystal X-ray diffraction studies, and magnetic measurements. The isostructural compounds crystallized in the monoclinic space group P21/n. The rare earth(III) cation is nine coordinate, whereas the coordination number for copper(II) is six. The complexes were stable at room temperature. The thermal decomposition products were mainly CH3OH, H2O, CH3Br, NOx (x = 1 or 2), CO2, and CO. The magnetic properties of 1–3 were dominated by the crystal field effect on the LnIII site, masking the magnetic interaction between the paramagnetic centers. The CuII–LuIII pair in 4 showed no significant interaction, which is in accord with the diamagnetic nature of the ground state for lutetium(III). Graphical Abstract The heterodinuclear compounds [CuLn(L)(NO3)2(H2O)3MeOH]NO3·MeOH (where Ln = Ho (1), Tm (2), Yb (3), and Lu (4)) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, TG/DSC, TG-FTIR, single crystal X-ray diffraction studies, and magnetic measurements. The complexes are isostructural and crystallize in the monoclinic space group P21/n. The magnetic properties of 1, 2, and 3 are dominated by the crystal field effect on the LnIII site, masking the magnetic interaction between the paramagnetic centers.