Cuprous complexes and dioxygen,VII. Competition between one- and two-electron reduction of O2 in the autoxidation of Cu(1-methyl-2-hydroxymethyl-imidazole)2+

The complexation of 1-methyl-2-hydroxymethyl-imidazole (L) with Cu(I) and Cu(II) has been studied in aqueous acetonitrile (AN). Cu(I) forms three complexes, Cu(AN)L⁺, CuL₂⁺, and Cu(AN)H_?1L, with stability constants logK(Cu(AN)⁺ + L ? Cu(AN)L⁺) = 4.60 ± 0.02, logβ₂ = 11.31 ± 0.04, and logK(Cu(AN)H_?1L+H⁺ ? Cu(AN)L⁺) = 10.43 ± 0.08 in 0.15M AN. The main species for Cu(II) are CuL²⁺, CuH_?1L⁺, CuH_?1L₂⁺, and CuH_?2L₂. The autoxidation of CuL₂⁺ was followed with an oxygen sensor and spectrophotometrically. Competition between the formation of superoxide in a one-electron reduction of O₂ and a path leading to H₂O₂ via binuclear (CuL₂)₂O was inferred from the rate law with k_a = (2.31 ± 0.12) · 10⁴M ^?2S ^?1, k_b = (1.0 ± 0.2) · 10³M ^?1, k_c = (2.85 ± 0.07) · 10²M ^?2S ^?1, k_d = 3.89 ± 0.14M ^?1S ^?1, k_e = 0.112 ± 0.004, k_f = (2.06 ± 0.24) · 10^?10M S ^?1, k_g = (1.35 ± 0.07) · 10^?7 S ^?1, and k_h = (6.8 ± 1.4) · 10^?7M ^?1 S ^?1.