One‐ and two‐electron oxidized CuII complexes of Schiff base ligands with para‐substituted phenolate moieties were synthesized and characterized. The crystal structure of the one‐electron oxidized methylthio‐substituted complex [Cu(MeS‐salen)]SbCl6 revealed the intermolecular π‐π stacking interaction of the two phenolate moieties with those of the neighboring complex cations to form the one‐dimensional chain. Such a π‐π stacking interaction could not be detected in the two‐electron oxidized complex [Cu(MeS‐salen)](SbCl6)2 and the oxidized methoxy‐substituted complexes [Cu(MeO‐salen)](SbF6)n (n=1, 2). Magnetic study of [Cu(MeO‐salen)]SbF6 showed a weak antiferromagnetic interaction between the CuII ion and phenoxyl radical unpaired electron spins, while [Cu(MeS‐salen)]SbCl6 showed a ferromagnetism. Both of the two‐electron oxidized complexes exhibited a relatively strong magnetic interaction between the two radical electrons, while the signs of the electron spins are different.

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Methylthiophenoxyl radical plays an important role as the active form of galactose oxidase (GO), which catalyzes oxidation of a primary alcohol to the corresponding aldehyde. Although many metal(II)‐phenoxyl radical species have been reported, only a few studies have been reported on the properties of methylthiophenoxyl radical‐metal complexes. We have prepared the group 10 metal (Ni, Pd and Pt) complexes of a salen‐type ligand with a methylthio group at para‐position of the two phenolate moieties and characterized them by X‐ray crystal structure analyses and various spectroscopic methods in order to understand the role of the methylthio moiety in phenoxyl radical metal complexes. The corresponding p‐methoxy substituted derivatives have been also characterized for comparison. All the one‐electron oxidized group 10 metal methylthiophenolate complexes have a relatively localized radical site on one of the two phenolate moieties in comparison to the one‐electron oxidized complexes of p‐methoxy derivatives and exhibit different properties dependent on the central metal ions.

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