A Study Using X-ray Absorption and Emission Spectroscopy of Dioxygen-Binding Xerogels Incorporating Cyclam Units Complexed with Copper Salts.

X-ray absorption spectroscopy was used to elucidate how hybrid xerogels complexed with CuCl2 could reversibly bind molecular dioxygen. Difference EXAFS analyses at the Cu K-edge suggest that dioxygen could bridge two Cu atoms in a μ-η1:η1 peroxo-like conformation with unequal Cu···O distances. Only the short distance (RCu–O1 = 1.86 ± 0.01 A) was unambiguously determined and looks typical of a CuII site. The Cu···Cu internuclear distances would be rather long: RCu–Cu ≈ 4.0 A (3.9 A) for the oxygenated (oxygen-free) xerogels. Cl K-edge EXAFS spectra revealed the pre-existence in the oxygen-free xerogels of CuI sites with short Cl–Cu bonds (2.11 ± 0.03 A). Pentacoordinate CuII sites with a lon…

Coordination Chemistry in the Solid: Study of the Incorporation of CuII into Cyclam-Containing Hybrid Materials