Synthesis and Structural Analyses of Phenylethynyl-Substituted Tris(2-Pyridylmethyl)Amines and their Copper(II) Complexes

Three new tris(2-pyridylmethyl) amine-based ligands possessing phenylethynyl units have been prepared using Sonogashira couplings and substitution reactions. Copper(II) complexes of those tetradentate ligands have also been synthesized. Solid-state structures of the six new compounds have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. Examination of the molecular structures of the ligands revealed the expected triangular geometries with virtually undeformed carbon-carbon triple bonds. While the tertiary nitrogen of the free ligands seem to be prevented from participation in supramolecular non-covalent interactions by the pyridyl hydrogen at the 3-position, the pyridyl nitrogens play a crucial role in the packing mode of the crystal structure. The nitrogens form weak hydrogen bonds, varied in length between 2.32 and 2.66 angstrom, with the pyridyl hydrogen of its neighbouring molecule. The [N center dot center dot center dot H-C] contacts enforce one-dimensional columnar assemblies on ligands that organize into wall-like structures, which in turn assemble into three-dimensional structures through CH-pi interactions. Structural analyses of Cu(II) complexes of the ligands revealed propeller-like structures caused by steric crowding of three pyridine ligands. The copper complexes of the ligands having three phenylethynyl substituents showed a remarkably deformed carbon-carbon triple bond enforced by a steric effect of the three phenyl groups. Most significantly, a total of seventy non-covalent interactions, classified into twelve types of hydrogen-involving short contacts, were identified in this study. The phenylethynyl substituent participated in forty-two interactions as a hydrogen bond acceptor, and its role was more distinctive in the crystal structures of the Cu(II) complexes.