Electronic Structure of a Cu(II)-Alkoxide Complex Modeling Intermediates in Copper-Catalyzed Alcohol Oxidations.

ABSTRACT: In the copper-catalyzed oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes, a Cu(II)-alkoxide (Cu(II)-OR) intermediate is believed to modulate the αC-H bond strength of the deprotonated substrate to facilitate the oxidation. As a structural model for these intermediates, we characterized the electronic structure of the stable compound Tp(tBu)Cu(II)(OCH2CF3) (Tp(tBu) = hydro-tris(3-tert-butyl-pyrazolyl)borate) and investigated the influence of the trifluoroethoxide ligand on the electronic structure of the complex. The compound exhibits an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrum with an unusually large gzz value of 2.44 and a small copper hyperfine coupling Azz of 40 × 10(-4) cm(-1) (120 MHz). Single-crystal electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectra show that the unpaired spin population is

SUBMITTER: Hayes EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4988936 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature