Crystal Structures, Magnetic Properties and Catecholase‐Like Activities of μ‐Alkoxo‐μ‐Carboxylato Double Bridged Dinuclear and Tetranuclear Copper(II) Complexes

One μ‐alkoxo‐μ‐carboxylato bridged dinuclear copper(II) complex, [Cu 2 (L 1 )(μ‐C 6 H 5 CO 2 )] ( 1 )(H 3 L 1 = 1,3‐bis(salicylideneamino)‐2‐propanol)), and two μ‐alkoxo‐μ‐dicarboxylato doubly‐bridged tetranuclear copper(II) complexes, [Cu 4 (L 1 ) 2 (μ‐C 8 H 10 O 4 )(DMF) 2 ]·H 2 O ( 2 ) and [Cu 4 (L 2 ) 2 (μ‐C 5 H 6 O 4 ]·2H 2 O·2CH 3 CN ( 3 ) (H 3 L 2 = 1,3‐bis(5‐bromo‐salicylideneamino)‐2‐propanol)) have been prepared and characterized. The single crystal X‐ray analysis shows that the structure of complex 1 is dimeric with two adjacent copper(II) atoms bridged by μ‐alkoxo‐μ‐carboxylato ligands where the Cu···Cu distances and Cu‐O(alkoxo)‐Cu angles are 3.5 11 Å and 132.8°, respectively. Complexes 2 and 3 consist of a μ‐alkoxo‐μ‐dicarboxylato doubly‐bridged tetranuclear Cu(II) complex with mean Cu‐Cu distances and Cu‐O‐Cu angles of 3.092 Å and 104.2° for 2 and 3.486 Å and 129.9° for 3 , respectively. Magnetic measurements reveal that 1 is strong antiferromagnetically coupled with 2 J =‐210 cm −1 while 2 and 3 exhibit ferromagnetic coupling with 2 J = 126 cm −1 and 82 cm −1 (averaged), respectively. The 2 J values of 1–3 are correlated to dihedral angles and the Cu‐O‐Cu angles. Dependence of the pH at 25 °C on the reaction rate of oxidation of 3,5‐di‐ tert ‐butylcatechol (3,5‐DTBC) to the corresponding quinone (3,5‐DTBQ) catalyzed by 1–3 was studied. Complexes 1–3 exhibit catecholase‐like active at above pH 8 and 25 °C for oxidation of 3,5‐di‐ tert ‐butylcatechol.