In the extensive field of metal ions, their interactions with nucleic acids, and their constituents, the main aim of this work is to develop a metal chelate suitable to recognize two molecules of an adenine nucleoside. For this purpose, the dinuclear chelate Cu2 (µ-EDTA) (ethylenediaminetetraacetate(4-) ion (EDTA)) is chosen as a bicephalic receptor model for N9-(2-hydroxyethyl)adenine (9heade). A one-pot synthesis is reported to obtain the compound [Cu2(µ2-EDTA)(9heade)2(H2O)4]·3H2O, which has been characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and various spectral, thermal, and magnetic methods. The complex unit is a centro-symmetric molecule, where each Cu (II) center is chelated by a half-EDTA, and is further surrounded by an N7-dentate 9heade nucleoside and two non-equivalent trans-O-aqua molecules. The metal chelate-nucleoside molecular recognition is referred to as an efficient cooperation between the Cu-N7(9heade) coordination bond and a (9heade)N6-H···O(carboxyl, EDTA) interligand interaction. Theoretical calculations are also made to account for the relevance of this interaction. The extreme weakness with which each water molecule binds to the metal center disturbs the thermal stability and the infrared (FT-IR) and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra of the compound.
Keywords: adenine; bicephalic chelate; copper; model receptor; synthetic nucleoside.