Synthesis,crystal structures and characterizations of three new copper(II) complexes including anti‐inflammatory diclofenac

Three new diclofenac‐based copper(II) complexes, namely tetrakis{μ‐2‐[2‐(2,6‐dichloroanilino)phenyl]acetato‐κ²O:O′}bis(methanol‐κO)copper(II), [Cu₂(μ‐dicl)₄(CH₃OH)₂] ( 1 ), bis{2‐[2‐(2,6‐dichloroanilino)phenyl]acetato‐κ²O,O′}bis(1‐vinyl‐1H‐imidazole‐κN³)copper(II), [Cu(dicl)₂(vim)₂] ( 2 ), and bis{2‐[2‐(2,6‐dichloroanilino)phenyl]acetato‐κ²O,O′}bis(1H‐imidazole‐κN³)copper(II), [Cu(dicl)₂(im)₂] ( 3 ) [dicl is diclofenac (C₁₄H₁₀Cl₂NO₂), vim is 1‐vinylimidazole (C₅H₆N₂) and im is imidazole (C₃H₄N₂)], have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FT–IR spectroscopy, thermal analysis and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. X‐ray diffraction analysis shows that complex 1 consists of dimeric units in which the dicl ligand exhibits a bidentate syn,syn‐μ₂ coordination mode linking two copper(II) centres. Complexes 2 and 3 have mononuclear units with the general formula [Cu(dicl)₂L₂] (L is vim or im) in which the Cu^II ions are octahedrally coordinated by two L and two dicl chelating ligands. The L and dicl ligands both occupy the trans positions of the coordination octahedron. The different coordination modes of dicl in the title complexes were revealed by Fourier transform IR (FT–IR) spectroscopy. The spin matching between the copper(II) centres in the dimeric [Cu₂(μ‐dicl)₄(CH₃OH)₂] units was also confirmed by magnetic data to be lower than the spin‐only value and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra. The thermal properties of the complexes were investigated by thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) techniques.