Bioinspired Dinuclear Copper Complexes for Small Molecule Activation

Book excerpt: This thesis focuses on the activation of small molecules by dinuclear copper complexes. Initially, isolation of copper/oxygen intermediates on the basis of a non-symmetric pyrazolate/tacn scaffold was investigated. The employed ligand scaffold enforces a Cu-O-O-Cu torsion angle within the dinuclear peroxo complex close to 90°, making it a relevant model complex for the proposed intermediate along the trajectory of dioxygen binding at type III copper proteins. Further, interconversion of this non-symmetric peroxo complex to the hydroperoxo and superoxo intermediate was studied by UV/Vis spec...