Hydrogen reduction of the Cu(acac)2 complex sorbed by cucurbit[8]uril

Abstract

The hydrogen reduction of bis(2,4-pentanedionato)copper(II) sorbed by the cavitand cucurbit[8]uril has been studied. After sorption of the complex at 180°C, the crystal structure of the resulting phase differs from the structure of the individual compounds. EPR shows that the reduction of the complex with hydrogen at 250°C for 15 min leads to the loss of one of the ligands and formation of the coordination bond between the Cu2+ ion and a nitrogen atom of cucurbit[8]uril and the oxygen atom of the water molecule or OH− group located in the cavitand cavity. The molecular structure of the resulting supramolecular compound has been optimized by density functional theory quantum-chemical calculations with the exchange-correlation functional with the use of the PRIRODA program package. EPR, EXAFS, and XANES show that an increase in the reduction time or temperature (to 280°C) leads to the formation of copper clusters.