Effect of Ligand Substituent Coordination on the Geometry and the Electronic Structure of Cu(II)-Diradical Complexes

Two organic moieties, known as ligands, having -OMe and -SePh as the ortho substituent attached to the aniline moiety of the parent 2-anilino-4,6-di-tert-butylphenol ligand, were synthesized. The ligands reacted with CuCl2 center dot 2H(2)O in a 2:1 ratio in CH3CN in the presence of Et3N and provided the corresponding mononuclear Cu(II)diradical complexes 1 (-OMe) and 2 (-SePh). Complex 1 was square planar, while complex 2 was in distorted square planar geometry due to the secondary coordination between the Se atom and the central Cu(II) center. Both complexes were comprised of multi-paramagnetic centers and exhibited an S-t = 1/2 ground state as established by variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements. X-band electron paramagnetic resonance measurements indicated the presence of an unpaired electron at the Cu(II) center in complex 1 and at the ligand center (pi-radical) in complex 2. The extent of the secondary interaction was found to be dependent on the "softness" of the donor atom belonging to the ortho substituent.