Reactivity of copper(I) complexes towards dioxygen

Efforts to model the reactions of copper enzymes with dioxygen with low mol ecular weight complexes have been quite successful during recent years. Gui ded by Nature, intriguing model systems for the active sites of such protei ns have been developed, In the course of these investigations, it has been discovered that a whole variety of copper-dioxygen adducts form when simple copper(I) complexes are oxidized with dioxygen. The course of these reacti ons depends on the temperature, the Ligands present, and the solvent. The e ffects of these parameters (especially the effect of Ligand modification) o n the reactivity of copper(I) complexes towards dioxygen are discussed in d etail in this review.