Oxido-pincer complexes of copper(II) – An EXAFS and EPR study of mono- and binuclear [(pydotH2)CuCl2]n (n=1 or 2)

The oxido-pincer ligand pydotH2 (2,6-bis(1-hydroxy-1-o-tolyl-ethyl-η2O,O′)pyridine) forms two different CuII containing complexes when prepared from anhydrous CuCl2. A combination of EPR spectroscopy and EXAFS allowed to structurally characterise the light-green dimer of the formula [(pydotH2)CuCl(μ-Cl)2ClCu(pydotH2)] and the penta-coordinate olive-green monomer [(pydotH2)CuCl2]. The molecular entities imply that the ligand remains protonated upon coordination. When dissolved in DMF both compounds form monomeric species [(pydotH2)CuCl2(DMF)] which could be characterised in detail by EPR, UV–Vis/NIR spectroscopy and electrochemical measurements. The assignments were supported by comparison with CuII complexes of the related ligands 2,6-bis(hydroxymethyl)pyridine (pydimH2) and 2,6-bis(1-hydroxy-1-methyl)pyridine (pydipH2).