Structural characterization of copper complexes with chiral 1,2,4-triazine-oxazoline ligands

Abstract

Abstract The crystal structure determination of oxazoline-1,2,4-triazine ligand 1f and pyridine-oxazoline ligand 2g was used to analyze their conformational preferences when forming complexes with metals. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and UV-vis spectroscopy as well as theoretical calculation using molecular mechanics (MM) were adopted to study the composition and geometry of oxazoline-1,2,4-triazine ligands 1 complexes with copper(II) acetate monohydrate. The study revealed that during the complexation, (i) Cu(II) ion is reduced to Cu(I) upon the ligand-to-metal charge transfer transition and (ii) the ligands form with copper(I) 2:1 (L:Cu) complexes of tetrahedral geometry. On the basis of the findings, the catalytic cycle and the active transition state for the enantioselective nitroaldol reaction (the Henry reaction) catalyzed by 1–Cu are proposed.