The copper–quinone
interaction plays important roles in diverse fields such as biochemistry,
catalysis, and optically/magnetically switchable materials. Despite
this fact, the isolation and thorough characterization of copper(I)-quinone
complexes remains a highly challenging task owing to their intrinsic
instability. We herein present systems where the stability imparted
by the extended π-system of a pyrene ring is used to synthesize,
isolate, and crystallographically characterize the first example of
a dinuclear metal complex that is bridged by a completely unreduced “di-o-quinone”-type ligand. Additionally, we present
the monocopper counterpart with the o-quinone–pyrene
type of ligand. The copper complexes are redox-rich and display intriguing
electrochemical, optical, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR)
spectroscopic properties. The line-rich EPR spectra of the one-electron
reduced copper(I) complexes were simulated and analyzed via density
functional theory calculations. The results presented here establish
π–π stacking as a viable alternative to stabilize
otherwise unstable redox-active compounds with possible consequences
for sensing and redox catalysis.