Halide copper(II) complexes of aromatic N-donor containing ligands: Structural, magnetic and reactivity studies

The preparation of four new copper(II) complexes with different N-donor ligands [CuBr2(2-benzylpyridine)2] (1), [CuBr2(2-benzylpyridine)(2,2′-bipyridine)]·H2O (2), [CuBr2(3-methyl-2-phenylpiridine)2] (3), [Cu(picolinate)2]·KI (4) from copper(I) halides as starting material is described. During the preparation of compound 4 a ligand oxidation reaction took place to give the picolinate ligand starting from 2-(2-methylaminoethyl)pyridine. The complexes were characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectroscopy and crystallographic studies. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of the complexes reveals their monomeric penta- and tetracoordinated nature. For all compounds, the copper(II) present a common square planar coordination except for compound 2 which is five coordinated in a quasi-square pyramidal configuration with τ of 0.29. The Cu–N distances for these compounds are in the range of 1.959(4)-2.041(3) Å, Cu–O distance was 1.961(3) Å and Cu–Br distances were in the range of 2.4052(4)-2.4381(6) Å for the square base configuration while for apical distance it was 2.6745(7) Å. Magnetic properties have been investigated for all compounds in the temperature range 2-300 K. Compound 1 shows weak antiferromagnetic intermolecular interaction.