A mononucleating (HL(1)) and a dinucleating (HL(2)) "end-off" compartmental ligand have been designed and synthesized by controlled Mannich reaction using p-cresol and bis(2-methoxyethyl)amine, and their formation has been rationalized. Six complexes have been prepared on treating HL(1) and HL(2) with Zn(II)X2 (X = Cl(-), Br(-), I(-)) with the aim to investigate their hydrolytic activity on phosphoester bond cleavage. Interestingly, the mononucleating ligand was observed to yield dinuclear complexes, [Zn2(L(1))2X2] (1-3), while the potential dinucleating ligand generated mononuclear complexes, [Zn(HL(2))X2] (4-6). Four (1-4), out of six complexes studied, were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD): the Zn ion exhibits trigonal bipyramidal and tetrahedral coordination spheres in the di- and mononuclear complex, respectively. The hydrolytic kinetics, followed spectrophotometrically with 4-nitrophenylphosphate (4-NPP) in buffered dimethylformamide (DMF) (97.5% DMF, v/v) because of solubility reasons, under excess substrate conditions (substrate:complex = 20:1), indicated that the complexes enormously accelerate the rate of phosphomonoester hydrolysis with first order rate constants (kcat) in the range 2-10 s(-1) at 25 °C. In each case kinetic data analyses have been run by Michaelis-Menten treatment. The efficacy in the order of conversion of substrate to product (p-nitrophenolate ion) follows the trend 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6, and the ratio of kcat of an analogous dinuclear to mononuclear complex is ≃2. An electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) study has revealed the dissociation of the centrosymmetric dinuclear complex to two mononuclear species instead of a syn-cooperative catalysis. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been performed to rationalize our proposed mechanistic pathway for phosphatase activity. The comparative analysis concludes the following facts under experimental conditions: (1) the halide bound to the active site affects the overall rate in the order: Cl(-) > Br(-) > I(-) regardless of nuclearity; (2) dinuclear complexes prevail over the mononuclear ones.

A library of 15 dicopper complexes as synthetic analogues of catechol oxidase has been synthesized with the aim to determine the relationship between the electrochemical behavior of the dicopper(II) species in the absence as well as in the presence of 3,5-di-tert-butylcatechol (3,5-DTBC) as model substrate and the catalytic activity, kcat, in DMSO medium. The complexes have been characterized by routine physicochemical techniques as well as by X-ray single-crystal structure analysis in some cases. Fifteen "end-off" compartmental ligands have been designed as 1 + 2 Schiff-base condensation product of 2,6-diformyl-4-R-phenol (R = Me, (t)Bu, and Cl) and five different amines, N-(2-aminoethyl)piperazine, N-(2-aminoethyl)pyrrolidine, N-(2-aminoethyl)morpholine, N-(3-aminopropyl)morpholine, and N-(2-aminoethyl)piperidine. Interestingly, in case of the combination of 2,6-diformyl-4-methylphenol and N-(2-aminoethyl)morpholine/N-(3-aminopropyl)morpholine/N-(2-aminoethyl)piperidine 1 + 1 condensation becomes the reality and the ligands are denoted as L2(1-3). On reaction of copper(II) nitrate with L2(1-3) in situ complexes 3, 12, and 13 are formed having general formula Cu2(L2(1-3))2(NO3)2. The remaining 12 ligands obtained as 1 + 2 condensation products are denoted as L1(1-12), which produce complexes having general formula Cu2(L1(1-12))(NO3)2. Catecholase activity of all 15 complexes has been investigated in DMSO medium using 3,5-DTBC as model substrate. Treatment on the basis of Michaelis-Menten model has been applied for kinetic study, and thereby turnover number, kcat, values have been evaluated. Cyclic voltametric (CV) and differential pulse voltametric (DPV) studies of the complexes in the presence as well as in the absence of 3,5-DTBC have been thoroughly investigated in DMSO medium. From those studies it is evident that oxidation of 3,5-DTBC catalyzed by dicopper(II) complexes proceed via two steps: first, semibenzoquinone followed by benzoquinone with concomitant reduction of Cu(II) to Cu(I). Our study reveals that apparently there is nearly no linear relationship between kcat and E° values of the complexes. However, a detailed density functional theory (DFT) calculation sheds light on this subject. A very good correlation prevails in terms of the energetics associated with the Cu(II) to Cu(I) reduction process and kcat values, as revealed from the combined theoretical and experimental approach.

An "end-off" compartmental ligand has been synthesized by an abnormal Mannich reaction, namely, 2-[bis(2-methoxyethyl)aminomethyl]-4-isopropylphenol yielding three centrosymmetric binuclear μ-phenoxozinc(II) complexes having the molecular formula [Zn2(L)2X2] (Zn-1, Zn-2, and Zn-3), where X = Cl(-), Br (-), and I (-), respectively. X-ray crystallographic analysis shows that the ZnO3NX chromophores in each molecule form a slightly distorted trigonal-bipyramidal geometry (τ = 0.55-0.68) with an intermetallic distance of 3.068, 3.101, and 3.083 Å (1-3, respectively). The spectrophotometrical investigation on their phosphatase activity established that all three of them possess significant hydrolytic efficiency. Michaelis-Menten-derived kinetic parameters indicate that the competitiveness of the rate of P-O bond fission employing the phosphomonoester (4-nitrophenyl)phosphate in 97.5% N,N-dimethylformamide is 3 > 1 > 2 and the kcat value lies in the range 9.47-11.62 s(-1) at 298 K. Theoretical calculations involving three major active catalyst forms, such as the dimer-cis form (D-Cis), the dimer-trans form (D-Trans), and the monoform (M-1 and M-2), systematically interpret the reaction mechanism wherein the dimer-cis form with the binuclear-bridged hydroxide ion acting as the nucleophile and one water molecule playing a role in stabilizing the leaving group competes as the most favored pathway.

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Catecholase activity has been explored by combined experimental and theoretical approaches using di-copper(ii) complexes of Mannich-base ligands.