Clay intercalated Cu(II) amino acid complexes: synthesis, spectroscopy and catalysis

Abstract

AbstractComplexes of Cu(lysine)2+2 and Cu(histidine)2+2 have been intercalated between the layers of saponite clays by a simple cation exchange procedure from aqueous solutions of preformed Cu(amino acid)2-complexes. Successful immobilization was obtained with an amino acid: Cu2+ ratio of 5, and a pH of 10 and 7.3 for lysine and histidine, respectively. The synthesized materials were investigated as powders and as thin films by electron spin resonance (ESR), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The light blue clays are characterized by an axially symmetric ESR spectrum with A//= 192 G, g//= 2.23 and g⊥ = 2.07, and a d-d absorption band around 600 nm, due to the intercalated planar Cu2+-complexes. Ammonia interacts reversibly with these intercalated complexes, suggesting the presence of a free coordination site. The novel synthesized materials are active in various oxidation reactions with t-butyl hydroperoxide as oxidant.