A preconstrained tricyclic biimidazoline ligand adaptable to diverse coordination modes

The tricyclic biimidazoline ligand L possesses a preconstrained synperiplan ar bisamidine N = C-C = N and has been shown to have a versatile coordinati on chemistry. In its manganese(II) tris-chelate complex [MnL3](ClO4)(2), a distorted trigonal prismatic coordination geometry is adopted. By contrast, a square-planar copper(II) complex, [CuL3](ClO4)(2) features one chelating as well as two monodentate L's, In a third variation, an exclusively alpha -diimine-bridged dicopper unit is found in both the copper(I) [Cu2L3](BF4) (2) and copper(II) [Cu2L4](ClO4)(4) dimeric complexes. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sc ience S.A. AU. rights reserved.