Synthesis, structures, and properties of 3,6-di-tert-butyl-o-benzosemiquinone complexes of copper(i) with 1,5-diaza-3,7-diphosphacyclooctanes

Two new 3,6-di-tert-butyl-o-benzosemiquinone complexes of copper(i) (2a and2b) with 1,3,5,7-tetraphenyl-1,5-diaza-3,5-diphosphacyclooctane (1a) and 1,5-dibenzyl-3,7-diphenyl-1,5-diaza-3,7-diphosphacyclooctane (1b), respectively, were synthesized. Their structures in solution and in the crystalline state were studied. According to the results of X-ray diffraction analysis, the copper(i) atom in molecules2a and2b is in a pseudotetrahedral environment and is directly coordinated to two P atoms of the diazadiphosphacyclooctane ligand and two O atoms of the benzosemiquinone ligand. In complex2a, ligand1a adopts a chair-boat conformation typical of all complexes with eight-membered cyclic 1,5-donors studied previously. Unlike ligand1a, the ligand in complex2b adopts a chair-chair (crown) conformation identical with that of the free ligand. Both complexes are paramagnetic in the solid state and in solutions. The parameters of the isotropic ESR spectra of complexes2a and2b are typical of four-coordinateo-semiquinone copper(i) complexes with bidentate bisphosphine ligands. Based on analysis of the isotropic ESR spectra, it was suggested that compound2b in solutions exists as two isomers, which differ in the conformation of the eight-membered heterocycle (chair-boat or chair-chair).