Molecular recognition between adenine or 2,6-diaminopurine and copper(II) chelates with N,O2,S-tripodal tetradentate chelators having thioether or disulfide donor groups

Abstract

Five novel ternary copper(II) complexes with the N,O2,S-tripodal tetradentate chelators N,N-bis(carboxymethyl)-S-benzylcysteaminate(2-) ion (BCBC) or N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(carboxymethyl)cystaminate(4-) ion (TCC) and adenine (Hade), 2,6-diaminopurine (Hdap), 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) or 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) as co-ligand were synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction and other physical methods: [Cu2(BCBC)2(μ2-N3,N7-H(N9)ade)(H2O)2]·H2O (1), [Cu2(BCBC)2(μ2-N7,N9-H(N3)dap)(H2O)2]·4H2O (2), [Cu2(μ2-TCC)(H(N9)ade)2(H2O)2]·10H2O (3), [Cu2(μ2-TCC)(bpy)2]·15H2O (4) and [Cu2(μ2-TCC)(phen)2]·14H2O (5). The crystal structure of H4TCC·3H2O was also determined. All ternary Cu(II) complexes have molecular structures. The N-(2-mercaptoethyl)-iminodiacetate moieties of BCBC or TCC ligands play a NO2+S-tripodal tetradentate role, with the S-(thioether or disulfide) atom as the apical/distal donor of the copper(II) center. In 1-3, the iminodiacetate moiety exhibits a mer-NO2 conformation (two nearly coplanar chelate rings) while in 4 and 5 (with bpy or phen as coligand) it displays a fac-NO+O (apical/distal) conformation. We conclude that the formation of the Cu-S(thioether or disulfide) bonds is strongly favored by the N-branched topology of the S-ligands in the reported compounds.

Keywords: Adenine; Copper(II) complexes; Disulfide; Interligand interactions; Thioether.