Visible-Light-Mediated Synthesis of Substituted Phenazine and Phenoxazinone Using Eosin Y as a Photoredox Catalyst.

This paper describes an efficient, sustainable, one-step procedure for synthesizing substituted phenazines and phenoxazinones from commercially available ortho-substituted aromatic amines with very good yield (≥80%) in water. The procedure uses eosin Y (EY) as a photoredox catalyst at room temperature (RT). The highly reactive o-quinone-diimine or o-quinone-imine intermediate was characterized by the HR-MS technique.

Cu(I) complexes obtained via spontaneous reduction of Cu(II) complexes supported by designed bidentate ligands: bioinspired Cu(I) based catalysts for aromatic hydroxylation.

Copper(i) complexes [Cu(L1-7)2](ClO4) (1-7) of bidentate ligands (L1-L7) have been synthesized via spontaneous reduction and characterized as catalysts for aromatic C-H activation using H2O2 as the oxidant. The single crystal X-ray structure of 1 exhibited a distorted tetrahedral geometry. All the copper(i) complexes catalyzed direct hydroxylation of benzene to form phenol with good selectivity up to 98%. The determined kinetic isotope effect (KIE) values, 1.69-1.71, support the involvement of a radical type mechanism. The isotope-labeling experiments using H218O2 showed 92% incorporation of 18O into phenol and confirm that H2O2 is the key oxygen supplier. Overall, the catalytic efficiencies of the complexes are strongly influenced by the electronic and steric factor of the ligand, which is fine-tuned by the ligand architecture. The benzene hydroxylation reaction possibly proceeded via a radical mechanism, which was confirmed by the addition of radical scavengers (TEMPO) to the catalytic reaction that showed a reduction in phenol formation.

Aminoalcohols and benzoates-friends or foes? Tuning nuclearity of Cu(ii) complexes, studies of their structures, magnetism, and catecholase-like activities as well as performing DFT and TDDFT studies.

Herein, the coordination chemistry of a series of Cu(ii) complexes of various aminoalcohol and benzoate ligands was explored. The pH-dependent reactions of copper(ii) salts with propanolamine (Hpa), N-methyl diethanolamine (H2mdea), triethanolamine (H3tea), and nbutyl-diethanolamine (H2budea) were carried out in the presence of various benzoates (benzoic acid, 2-hydroxy benzoic acid, 4-hydroxy benzoic acid, 3-methoxy benzoic acid, and 4-methoxy benzoic acid). The resulting complexes [Cu2(pa)2(benzoate)2] (1), [Cu2(pa)2(3-methoxybenzoate)2] (2), [Cu2(pa)2(4-methoxybenzoate)2] (3), [Cu2(H2tea)2(benzoate)2]·2H2O (4), [Cu2(H2tea)2(2-hydroxybenzoate)2]·2H2O (5), [Cu2(H3tea)2(4-hydroxybenzoate)2][Cu(Htea)2]·2H2O (6), [Cu(H2mdea)2][benzoate]2 (7), [Cu(H2mdea)2][4-methoxybenzoate]2 (8), [Cu(H2bdea)2][2-hydroxybenzoate]2 (9), [Cu2(benzoate)4(benzoic acid)2] (10), [Cu2(4-methoxybenzoate)4(CH3CN)2]·4CH3CN (11) and [Cu3(H2tea)2(benzoate)2(NO3)2] (12) were formed as mono-, di- or trinuclear entities depending upon the pH conditions of the reaction. The complexes were characterized employing spectral, magnetic, single-crystal X-ray and DFT/TDDFT studies. 7 and 8 exhibited emission peaks at 510 and 460 nm, respectively, in the solid-state photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The temperature variable magnetic properties of 1-12 revealed the presence of antiferromagnetic (in 1-3 and 7-11) or ferromagnetic interactions (in 4-6 and 12) with Curie constants C = 0.24 (7), 0.28 (8) or 0.35 cm3 K mol-1 (9) and Weiss constants θ = -0.34 (7), -0.32 (8) or -0.40 (9) K for the mononuclear complexes. The dinuclear complexes demonstrated J values of -89.2(2) (1), -71.1(3) (2), -59.6(1) (3), 98(1) (4), 79.1(2) (5), -85.4(2) (10) and -89.5(2) (11) cm-1. Strong ferromagnetic interactions were observed in the case of 6 (J = 172(3) cm-1 and zJ' = 2.3(2) cm-1), which were comparable with those of 12 (J12 = 197(2) cm-1, J13 = -9.3(3) cm-1). A correlation exists between the Cu-O-Cu angle and magnetic coupling in di- and trinuclear Cu(ii) complexes. Moreover, 4-6 were active catalysts for the oxidation of 3,5-DTBC to 3,5-DTBQ and showed catecholase activity in the order 4 > 5 > 6 (Kcat = 943 (4), 698 (5) and 553 h-1 (6)). This order can be rationalized in terms of the electron density on the ligand, which neutralizes the effective positive charge on Cu(ii), thus forming the less or more stable intermediate. The order of catecholase activity and the electronic spectral properties of 4-6 were also investigated by DFT and TDDFT studies, respectively.