Nitric oxide (NO) is a radical molecule that was first discovered in the late 19th century and has since been found to possess a variety of roles in both biological and non-biological processes. Examples of its biological functions can be found in processes such as its role as an inducer of mitochondrial respiration and in neurodegeneration and neuroprotection, while an example of the molecule’s nonbiological function is as an intermediate during denitrification. Researchers have studied NO by coordinating it with metals to form nitrosyl complexes. Much
success has been achieved in developing nitrosyl complexes using transition metals such as iron and cobalt, but there has been little done using copper. The main aim of this project was to produce copper complexes that react with NO to form nitrosyl complexes using redox non-innocent ligands synthesized by reacting 3,5-di-tert-butylcatechol with aniline variants. Using NMR and Infrared spectroscopy, it was determined that three of the four target ligands were successfully produced, with two of the three resulting complexes having been successfully produced as well. The two complexes were reacted with the compounds sodium azide, tetrabutylammonium iodide and nitrosonium hexafluoroantimonate to test their reactivity. Using UV-visible and Infrared spectroscopy, it was determined that the copper(II) bis(iminobenzosemiquinonate) and copper(II) bis(3,5-dimethoxy-iminobenzosemiquinonate) complexes did not react with tetrabutylammonium iodide, but were reduced by the azide anion and oxidized by the nitrosonium cation. This indicates that the complexes do react with nitrosonium and possibly NO, but further research will be required to study the complexes’ reactivity with NO, as infrared spectroscopy did not indicate that nitrosyl complexes were formed. This project was also performed in a limited timeframe, which prevented the use of analytical techniques such as x-ray crystallography, or further experimentation such as introducing the complexes to gaseous NO, which could be performed in future research.
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