BINUCLEAR NICKEL(II) AND COPPER(II) COMPLEXES OF AMIDE-CONTAINING 2-ARMED AND MACROCYCLIC LIGANDS

Two new acyclic, potentially binucleating amide-containing ligands, H( 3)L1 and H(3)L2, have been synthesised from the reaction of 4-methylph enol-2,6-diacyl chloride with an excess of 1,2-diaminobenzene or of 1, 2-diamino-4,5-dimethylbenzene, respectively. Dicopper(II) complexes, [ Cu-2(L1)(X)] where X = CH3COO- or OH-, have been made from H(3)L1 but the analogous nickel complexes could not be prepared and no complexes with either copper or nickel could be prepared from H(3)L2. Interestin gly, Schiff-base macrocyclic complexes derived from reactions of H(3)L 1 and H(3)L2 with 2,6-diformyl-4-methylphenol, 4-t-butyl-2,6-diformylp henol, or S-(2,6-diformyl-3-methylphenyl) -dimethylthiocarbamate, were successfully templated using these same two metal ions and resulted i n the isolation of nine dimetallic complexes. A variety of structural modifications were made to the macrocycles via the choice of dialdehyd e precursor, including changing a phenolate bridge for a thiophenolate one, in an attempt to increase the solubility of the products. (C) 19 98 Elsevier Science S.A, All rights reserved.