Syntheses and structures of copper complexes of tetradentate enaminones derived from condensation of benzoylacetone and ferrocenoylacetone with 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane

Reaction of 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane with benzoylacetone and ferrocenoylacetone yields tetradentate enaminones H2L1 and H2L2, respectively. Reaction of copper acetate with two enaminones affords the corresponding complexes 1 and 2, which are formulated as [L1Cu] and [L2Cu], respectively. The structures of H2L1, H2L2 and 1 have been determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Enaminone H2L1 crystallizes with Z = 4 in space group C2/c, the molecule of which lies on a C2 axis. Enaminone H2L2 crystallizes with Z = 2 in space group P21/c, the molecule of which possesses a symmetric center. For complex 1, which crystallizes in space group P1, H2L1 is a bianionic tetradentate donor via two carbonyl oxygens and two deprotonated enamine nitrogens; the coordination geometry of copper(II) is a distorted tetrahedron.