Flexidentate behaviour of 2-pyridylsulfonamides -: Direct electrochemical synthesis and spectroscopic and X-ray characterisation of neutral copper(II) complexes of N-(2-pyridyl)sulfonamides

Copper complexes with potentially bidentate N-(2-pyridyl)sulfonylamide ligands have been synthesised by the electrochemical oxidation of the metal in an acetonitrile solution of the neutral amide and additional bidentate N-N coligands. The compounds have been characterised by microanalysis and EPR, vibrational and electronic spectroscopy. In representative cases the structures were also determined by X-ray diffraction methods. Various coordination behaviour is found for the ligands, which act in a N,N'-bidentate or N,O-bidentate manner, the latter giving abnormally short Cu-O bonds. ((C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2004).