Asymmetric Phenanthroline Derivatives Designed for CuI

1
Asymmetric Phenanthroline Derivatives Designed
for Cu(I) Kurstan L. H. Cunningham, Division of
Natural Science, Chemistry, St. Norbert
College, De Pere, WI 54115
Our project aims to identify the optimum
photochemistry of copper(I) phenanthroline
complexes by creating asymmetric steric
congestion around the copper(I) center seen in
the figure to the right. Our first step was to
synthesize the compounds that will surround the
copper(I) center in this tetrahedral-like
fashion. Currently, we have succeeded in
probing the unique reactivity of
3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline as the
starting material to create new potential ligands
for a copper(I) center. We have found
significantly different reactivity from various
alkyl lithium regents following the reaction
scheme below. The novel asymmetric ligands that
have been synthesized with this reaction are
summarized in the following table.
R R
3,4,7,8-tetramethyl- 1,10-phenanthroline (tmp)