Chiral Tetranuclear μ3-Alkoxo-Bridged Copper(II) Complex with 2 + 4 Cubane-Like Cu4O4 Core Framework and Ferromagnetic Ground State

Orthogonal magnetic orbitals in high spin Cu-VO units: structure, magnetism and EPR study of anisotropic heterometallic complexes

Molecular-based magnetic materials are expected to serve as building blocks for quantum bits. To realize high-dimensional Hilbert space and addressability, we constructed anisotropic multi-level systems based on CuII and VIV with orthogonal magnetic orbitals. The crystal structures and intramolecular magnetic couplings of four CuIIVOII complexes [{CuVO(appen)2}2], [{CuVO(fhma)2EDA}2], [{CuVO(hfca)2EDA}2] and [CuVO(hfca)2DPEDA]n are characterized. Due to the orthogonal magnetic orbitals of CuII and VIV, the Cu-V pairs in the four complexes have strong ferromagnetic couplings, and the coupling strength is linearly related to the dihedral angle between the two equatorial planes of the two coordination polyhedra. Because of the triplet ground state, the system can be described by an effective Hamiltonian model consisting of two S = 1 spins coupled together. The anisotropy parameters of [{CuVO(hfca)2EDA}2] and [CuVO(hfca)2DPEDA]n were obtained by the simulation of X-band continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance (cw-EPR) spectra, confirming that both complexes have zero-field splitting addressable on the relative energy scale. The results indicate that constructing multi-centre complexes based on orthogonal magnetic orbitals is a promising strategy for designing multidimensional quantum bits.

Preferential Enrichment of Enantiomer from Amino Acid Schiff Bases by Coordination Interaction and Crystallization

In this paper, preferential enrichment (PE) is described for three pairs of novel amino acid Schiff base Cu(II)/Cu(I) complexes. Single crystal X-ray diffraction indicated that 1-S/R are one-dimensional coordination polymers (CPs) with helical structures, and 2-S/R and 3-S/R are one-dimensional CPs with auxiliary ligands. By tuning the pH, the solvent and second ligands, the 1-S/R, 3-S/R underwent polymorphic transitions, resulting in enantioselective liberation of excess enantiomers into solution, until the deposited crystals were slightly enriched with the opposite enantiomer, thereby successfully exhibiting PE. However, under the effects of Cu(II), the solvent and low pH, 2-S/R did not exhibit PE and resulted in enrichment of racemic compounds, which was attributed to amino acid Schiff base chiral complex mechanisms of PE. The three pairs of Cu complex structures were characterized by UV-vis, MS and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). All chiral properties were studied by circular dichroism (CD) in the solid and liquid.

Activation and catalytic transformation of methane under mild conditions

In the last few decades, worldwide scientists have been motivated by the promising production of chemicals from the widely existing methane (CH₄) under mild conditions for both chemical synthesis with low energy consumption and climate remediation. To achieve this goal, a whole library of catalytic chemistries of transforming CH₄ to various products under mild conditions is required to be developed. Worldwide scientists have made significant efforts to reach this goal. These significant efforts have demonstrated the feasibility of oxidation of CH₄ to value-added intermediate compounds including but not limited to CH₃OH, HCHO, HCOOH, and CH₃COOH under mild conditions. The fundamental understanding of these chemical and catalytic transformations of CH₄ under mild conditions have been achieved to some extent, although currently neither a catalyst nor a catalytic process can be used for chemical production under mild conditions at a large scale. In the academic community, over ten different reactions have been developed for converting CH₄ to different types of oxygenates under mild conditions in terms of a relatively low activation or catalysis temperature. However, there is still a lack of a molecular-level understanding of the activation and catalysis processes performed in extremely complex reaction environments under mild conditions. This article reviewed the fundamental understanding of these activation and catalysis achieved so far. Different oxidative activations of CH₄ or catalytic transformations toward chemical production under mild conditions were reviewed in parallel, by which the trend of developing catalysts for a specific reaction was identified and insights into the design of these catalysts were gained. As a whole, this review focused on discussing profound insights gained through endeavors of scientists in this field. It aimed to present a relatively complete picture for the activation and catalytic transformations of CH₄ to chemicals under mild conditions. Finally, suggestions of potential explorations for the production of chemicals from CH₄ under mild conditions were made. The facing challenges to achieve high yield of ideal products were highlighted and possible solutions to tackle them were briefly proposed.

Novel {Cu4} and {Cu4Cd6} clusters derived from flexible aminoalcohols: synthesis, characterization, crystal structures, and evaluation of anticancer properties

Two new copper clusters, {Cu₄} and {Cu₄Cd₆}, with polydentate aminoalcohol ligands, diethanol propanolamine (H₃L¹) and bis-tris{2-[bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]-2-(hydroxymethyl)propane-1,3-diol} (H₆L²), have been synthesized under mild conditions and characterized thoroughly by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, powder XRD, magnetic and DFT studies, and absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The cluster {Cu₄} exhibits a rare tetranuclear copper cubane core whereas {Cu₄Cd₆} forms an unusual heterometallic cage owing to the introduction of the second metal Cd into the ligand. A hexapodal ligand (H₆L²) with N and O donor atoms was chosen deliberately for the construction of a high-nuclearity cluster, i.e., {Cu₄Cd₆}. Interestingly, both the clusters displayed significant cytotoxicity towards human cervical (HeLa) and lung (A549) cancer cells as evident from the shallow IC₅₀ values [15.6 ± 0.8 μM (HeLa), 18.5 ± 1.9 μM (A549) for {Cu₄}, and 11.1 ± 1.5 μM (HeLa), 10.2 ± 1.3 μM (A549) for {Cu₄Cd₆}] obtained after a 24 h incubation. However, moderate toxicity was observed toward immortalized lung epithelial normal cells (HPL1D) with IC₅₀ values of 32.4 ± 1.2 μM for {Cu₄} and 27.6 ± 1.7 μM for {Cu₄Cd₆}. A cellular apoptotic study using HeLa cells revealed that the {Cu₄} cluster triggered apoptosis at both the early and late phases while the {Cu₄Cd₆} cluster facilitate apoptosis mainly at the late apoptotic stage. A standard 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein-diacetate (DCFH-DA) test affirms that both the clusters enhanced ROS production inside the cancer cells, responsible for promoting cell apoptosis. The decanuclear {Cu₄Cd₆} clusters demonstrated better anticancer activity compared to the tetranuclear {Cu₄} clusters, indicating the role of high nuclearity and additional Cd metal in the enhanced intracellular production of ROS.

Chiral tetranuclear copper(ii) complexes: synthesis, optical and magnetic properties

The chiral tetranuclear Cu(ii) cubane complexes with the general molecular formula [Cu₄(R-L₁)₄] (R-1) and [Cu₄(S-L₁)₄] (S-1) exhibit ferromagnetic exchange coupling, which is in contrast to the literature reports. This is corroborated by theoretical calculations.

Syntheses, Structures, and Catalytic Hydrocarbon Oxidation Properties of N-Heterocycle-Sulfonated Schiff Base Copper(II) Complexes

Reaction of the o-[(o-hydroxyphenyl)methylideneamino]benzenesulfonic acid (H2L) (1) with CuCl2·2H2O in the presence of pyridine (py) leads to [Cu(L)(py)(EtOH)] (2) which, upon further reaction with 2,2’-bipyridine (bipy), pyrazine (pyr), or piperazine (pip), forms [Cu(L)(bipy)]·MeOH (3), [Cu2(L)2(μ-pyr)(MeOH)2] (4), or [Cu2(L)2(μ-pip)(MeOH)2] (5), respectively. The Schiff base (1) and the metal complexes (2–5) are stabilized by a number of non-covalent interactions to form interesting H-bonded multidimensional polymeric networks (except 3), such as zigzag 1D chain (in 1), linear 1D chain (in 2), hacksaw double chain 1D (in 4) and 2D motifs (in 5). These copper(II) complexes (2–5) catalyze the peroxidative oxidation of cyclic hydrocarbons (cyclooctane, cyclohexane, and cyclohexene) to the corresponding products (alcohol and ketone from alkane; alcohols, ketone, and epoxide from alkene), under mild conditions. For the oxidation of cyclooctane with hydrogen peroxide as oxidant, used as a model reaction, the best yields were generally achieved for complex 3 in the absence of any promoter (20%) or in the presence of py or HNO3 (26% or 30%, respectively), whereas 2 displayed the highest catalytic activity in the presence of HNO3 (35%). While the catalytic reactions were significantly faster with py, the best product yields were achieved with the acidic additive.

Probing the chirality of oxidovanadium(v) centers in complexes with tridentate sugar Schiff-base ligands: solid-state and solution behavior

Configurations of oxidovanadium centers in diastereomeric complexes with chiral sugar ligands are assigned and in the solid state triggered by the coordination number at the vanadium center through the steric requirements of the chelate ligand.

New molecular heptanuclear cobalt phosphonates: synthesis, structures and magnetic properties

Synthesis, structures and magnetic properties (strong anisotropy, ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions) of novel {Co₇} homoleptic molecular cobalt phosphonates with a similar structure motif are described.

DNA/protein interaction, cytotoxic activity and magnetic properties of amino-alcohol Schiff base derived Cu(ii)/Ni(ii) metal complexes: influence of the nuclearity and metal ions

The reactions of amino-alcohol derived Schiff-base ligands with Cu(ii) and Ni(ii) salts have afforded four novel polynuclear complexes, which exhibited interesting magnetic and cytotoxic properties.

Sulfonated Schiff base copper(ii) complexes as efficient and selective catalysts in alcohol oxidation: syntheses and crystal structures

Alcohol oxidation properties of four copper complexes (2–5) derived from the sulfonated Schiff base H₂L·3H₂O (1) are described. A quantitative conversion of 1-phenylethanol was obtained with 4 within 20 min of low power MW irradiation.

1,3,5,7-Tetrakis(tetrazol-5-yl)-adamantane: the smallest tetrahedral tetrazole-functionalized ligand and its complexes formed by reaction with anhydrous M(ii)Cl2(M = Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd)

Porous [M₄Cl₄L₂] framework complexes with gismondine zeolite topology, manifesting a tetrahedral ligand ‘imprinting’, which stimulates the realization of effectively tetrahedral metal-tetrazolato/chlorido clusters, are in the focus of the report.

Mota AJ, Ephritikhine M. Structural, magnetic and theoretical calculations of a ferromagnetically coupled tetranuclear copper(ii) square complex

Ferromagnetic interactions in a tetranuclear copper(ii) square complex containing a Schiff base ligand.

Cubane-type Cu(II)4 and Mn(II)2Mn(III)2 complexes based on pyridoxine: a versatile ligand for metal assembling

By using Vitamin B6 in its monodeprotonated pyridoxine form (PN-H) [PN = 3-hydroxy-4,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)-2-methylpyridine], two tetranuclear compounds of formula [Mn4(PN-H)4(CH3CO2)3Cl2]Cl·2CH3OH·2H2O (1) and [Cu4(PN-H)4Cl2(H2O)2]Cl2 (2) have been synthesized and magneto-structurally characterized. 1 crystallizes in the triclinic system with space group P1 whereas 2 crystallizes in the orthorhombic system with Fdd2 as space group. They exhibit Mn(II)2Mn(III)2 (1) and Cu(II)4 (2) cubane cores containing four monodeprotonated pyridoxine groups simultaneously acting as chelating and bridging ligands (1 and 2), three bridging acetate ligands in the syn-syn conformation (1), and two terminally bound chloride anions (1 and 2) plus two coordinated water molecules (2). The electroneutrality is achieved by the presence of chloride counterions in both compounds. Tri- [Mn(1) and Mn(3)] and divalent [Mn(2) and Mn(4)] manganese centers coexist in 1, all being six-coordinate with distorted Mn(1/3)O6 and Mn(2/4)O5Cl octahedral surroundings, respectively, the equatorial Mn-O bonds being about 0.2 Å shorter at the former ones. The two crystallographically independent copper(II) ions in 2 are five-coordinate in somewhat distorted CuO5 [Cu(1)] and CuO4Cl [Cu(2)] square pyramidal geometries. The values of the intracore metal-metal separation cover the ranges 3.144(1)-3.535(1) (1) and 2.922(6)-3.376(1) Å (2). The magnetic properties of 1 and 2 were investigated in the temperature range 1.9-300 K, and they correspond to an overall antiferromagnetic behavior with susceptibility maxima at 5.0 (1) and 65.0 K (2). The analysis of the magnetic susceptibility data showed the coexistence of intracore antiferro- and ferromagnetic interactions in the two compounds. Their values compare well with those existing in the literature for the parent systems.