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.

One-electron oxidized salophen-type complexes, [Cu(salophen)](+) (H2salophen = N,N'-bis(3,5-di-tert-butylsalicylidene)-1,2-diaminobenzene), and its methoxy derivatives, [Cu(MeO-salophen)](+) and [Cu(salophen-(MeO)2)](+) (H2MeO-salophen = N,N'-bis(3-tert-butyl-5-methoxysalicylidene)-1,2-diaminobenzene, H2salophen-(MeO)2 = N,N'-bis(3,5-di-tert-butylsalicylidene)-1,2-diamino-4,5-dimethoxybenzene), have been synthesized and structurally characterized, and their reactivities have been investigated. The solid state structures of the one-electron oxidized forms of these complexes suggested that [Cu(salophen)](+) and [Cu(MeO-salophen)](+) can be assigned to relatively localized Cu(ii)-phenoxyl radical complexes, while [Cu(salophen-(MeO)2)](+) is the diiminobenzene radical complex. On the other hand, [Cu(salophen)](+) in solution showed a different electronic structure from that of the solid sample, the radical electron being delocalized over the whole π-conjugated ligand. The reaction of these oxidized complexes with benzyl alcohol has been investigated in the presence of a large excess of substrate, which revealed the difference in the kinetic behavior between the complexes. The mechanisms of the oxidation have been discussed on the basis of the electronic and geometrical structures and the reaction kinetics.

No abstract