The
properties of metal/dioxygen species, which are key intermediates
in oxidation catalysis, can be modulated by interaction with redox-inactive
Lewis acids, but structural information about these adducts is scarce.
Here we demonstrate that even mildly Lewis acidic alkali metal ions,
which are typically viewed as innocent “spectators”,
bind strongly to a reactive cis-peroxo dicopper(II)
intermediate. Unprecedented structural insight has now been obtained
from X-ray crystallographic characterization of the “bare”
CuII
2(μ-η1:η1-O2) motif and its Li+, Na+, and K+ complexes. UV–vis, Raman, and electrochemical
studies show that the binding persists in MeCN solution, growing stronger
in proportion to the cation’s Lewis acidity. The affinity for
Li+ is surprisingly high (∼70 × 104 M–1), leading to Li+ extraction from
its crown ether complex. Computational analysis indicates that the
alkali ions influence the entire Cu-OO-Cu core, modulating the degree
of charge transfer from copper to dioxygen. This induces significant
changes in the electronic, magnetic, and electrochemical signatures
of the Cu2O2 species. These findings have far-reaching
implications for analyses of transient metal/dioxygen intermediates,
which are often studied in situ, and they may be
relevant to many (bio)chemical oxidation processes when considering
the widespread presence of alkali cations in synthetic and natural
environments.