SYNTHESIS AND STRUCTURE OF ISOCYTOSINE TERNARY COPPER(II) COMPLEXES

The ternary complexes (glycylglycinato)(isocytosine)copper(II) dihydra te 1 and (glycylglycinato)(6-methyl-isocytosine)copper(II) monohydrate 2 have been prepared and characterised by X-ray diffraction, electroc hemistry and optical, ESR and IR spectroscopy. The two compounds are s lightly distorted square planar, with the four co-ordination sites occ upied by the tridentate glycylglycine dianion [O(7), N(13) and N(10)] and N(3) of the pyrimidine base. An additional weak axial interaction exists between an oxygen of a water molecule O(W1) and the copper atom [Cu ... O(W1) distances 2.74 and 2.70 Angstrom respectively]. Spectro scopic and electrochemical data are in accord with the crystal structu res. Although both compounds exhibit irreversible oxidation processes, the oxidation of Cu-II to Cu-III is best performed with the isocytosi ne complex.