Catecholase Activity and Substituent Effect of New Homoleptic Copper(ii) Chalcone Complexes

Abstract

<p>Three new neutral complexes of copper(II) containing chalcone ligands derived from 2'-hydoxyacetophenone and 4-substituted benzaldehydes were synthesized. Complexes were prepared by solution synthesis and characterized by spectroscopy. The catalytic activity of complexes was examined in the reaction of 3,5-di-tertbutylcatehcol (DTBC) oxidation. The kinetics of DTBC catalytic oxidation by copper(II) complexes (1 – 3) was investigated spectrophotometrically under pseudo-first-order conditions. Catalytic parameters, the maximum reaction rate (vmax), Michaelis-Menten constant (KM), catalytic efficiency, catalytic reaction rate constant (kcat), turnover number (TON), and turnover frequencies (TOF) for complexes 1 – 3 in DTBC oxidation were collected. The studied complexes 1 and 2 were found to have moderate catalytic activity, while complex 3 does not show catalytic properties.</p>