A preconstrained tricyclic biimidazoline ligand adaptable to diverse coordination modes

Abstract

The tricyclic biimidazoline ligand L possesses a preconstrained synperiplanar bisamidine N=C–C=N and has been shown to have a versatile coordination chemistry. In its manganese(II) tris-chelate complex [Mn L 3](ClO 4) 2, a distorted trigonal prismatic coordination geometry is adopted. By contrast, a square–planar copper(II) complex, [Cu L 3](ClO 4) 2 features one chelating as well as two monodentate L’s. In a third variation, an exclusively α-diimine-bridged dicopper unit is found in both the copper(I) [Cu 2 L 3](BF 4) 2 and copper(II) [Cu 2 L 4](ClO 4) 4 dimeric complexes.