Copper complexes of N–(3–pyridylmethyl) acetamide

CHED 1155

Miryung J. Son, jmson@ou.edu, Urmila Pal Chaudhuri, urmila@ou.edu, and Robert P. Houser, houser@ou.edu. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, 620 Parrington Oval, Room 208, Norman, OK 73019
The 2-pyridylamide family of ligands was synthesized in an effort to develop model complexes for Cuz from nitrous oxide reductase (N2OR) which converts nitrous oxide to dinitrogen, playing a key role in the prevention of greenhouse emission in global warming. Interestingly, this family of ligands has generated a variety of structures because of their ability to adopt different binding modes.1-2 In the absence of a base the carbonyl oxygen of the amide coordinates to the copper center, and in the presence of a base, the amide hydrogen gets deprotonated forming a variety of copper(II) and mixed-valence cluster complexes. In view of the remarkable chemistry generated by this family of 2-pyridylamide ligands, we have synthesized the 3-substituted derivative, namely N-(3-pyridylmethyl) acetamide and produced the copper complexes of this ligand. A detailed study of the synthesis, structural and spectroscopic properties of the copper complexes of N-(3-pyridylmethyl) acetamide, will be presented.

1. Mondal, A.; Klein, E.L.; Khan, M.A.; Houser, R.P. Inorg. Chem., 2003, 42, 5462-5464

2. Yang, L.; Powell, D. R.; Klein, E. L.; Grohmann, A.; Houser, R. P. Inorg. Chem., 2007, 46, 6831-6833