Dinuclear and mononuclear copper(II) carboxylate complexes with cis-chelating diacids

The synthesis and crystal structures of two new copper complexes with chelating dicarboxylic acids are described. Reaction of copper(II) acetate with diacid H₂L2 (HO₂CC(Me)₂OArOC(Me)₂CO₂H, Ar=1,3-substituted phenyl) gave a bischelate complex (L2)₂Cu₂ · 2MeOH with the normal paddlewheel structure and tilted, trans-oriented chelate rings with skewed conformations. The overall structure was reasonably well reproduced by density functional calculations on (L2)₂Cu₂. Treatment of the product from reaction of Cu₂(OAc)₄ and diacid H₂L3 (Ar=1,3-substituted 2,4-dibromophenyl) with pyridine gave a six-coordinate mononuclear chelate (L3)Py₂Cu · H₂O in which one chelate carboxylate is monodentate, the other is unsymmetrically bidentate, and the pyridines are cis-coordinated.