Syntheses and structures of copper complexes of tetradentate enaminones derived from condensation of benzoylacetone and ferrocenoylacetone with 1,2- bis (2-aminophenoxy)ethane

Reaction of 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane with benzoylacetone and ferrocenoylacetone yields tetradentate enaminones H₂L¹ and H₂L², respectively. Reaction of copper acetate with two enaminones affords the corresponding complexes 1 and 2, which are formulated as L¹Cu] and L²Cu], respectively. The structures of H₂L¹, H₂L² and 1 have been determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Enaminone H₂L¹ crystallizes with Z = 4 in space group C2/c, the molecule of which lies on a C ₂ axis. Enaminone H₂L² crystallizes with Z = 2 in space group P2₁/c, the molecule of which possesses a symmetric center. For complex 1, which crystallizes in space group P 1, H₂L¹ is a bianionic tetradentate donor via two carbonyl oxygens and two deprotonated enamine nitrogens; the coordination geometry of copper(II) is a distorted tetrahedron.