MONONUCLEAR AND BINUCLEAR COPPER(II) COMPLEXES OF THE ANTIINFLAMMATORY DRUG IBUPROFEN - SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION, AND CATECHOLASE-MIMETIC ACTIVITY

Two mononuclear copper(II) ibuprofenate adducts with imidazole or 2-me thylimidazole and two binuclear copper(II) ibuprofenate adducts with m etronidazole or caffeine have been prepared and characterized. Element al analyses, UV-VIS, IR, EPR, and magnetic moment data for imidazole o r 2-methylimidazole adducts are consistent with mononuclear square pla nar complexes that contain two ibuprofenato ligands and two N-containi ng imidazole ligands to give essentially a CuO2N2 chromophore. The abo ve data for metronidazole or caffeine adducts are consistent with a bi nuclear structure as found for copper(II) acetate monohydrate and othe r copper(II) carboxylate dimers. In these complexes four carboxylate g roups are bridging two copper(II) atoms, and two added bases coordinat ed at axial positions to form CuO4N chromophore around each copper. Th e catecholase-mimetic catalytic activities of the complexes have been determined by monitoring the formation of o-quinone from catechol. The catalytic activities of the mononuclear complexes are lower than thos e of the binuclear copper(II) ibuprofenate or its metronidazole or caf feine mono-adducts.