Coordination compounds from 1,3,5-triazine-derived multi-directional ligands: application in oxidation catalysis

A series of 1,3,5-triazine- and 2,2′-dipyridylamine-based ligands have been prepared and the crystal structure from one of them was solved. The coordination of these dendritic multi-directional ligands with various metal salts led to attractive supramolecular architectures. In particular, an unprecedented 1D ladder coordination polymer resulted from the reaction of copper(II) nitrate and 2b. Reaction of nickel(II) perchlorate with 2b led to the formation of a new dinuclear nickel complex for which the crystal structure is discussed. Finally, the polynucleating ligands 2b–2e were used with copper(II) nitrate to catalyze the oxidation of 3,5-di-tert-butylcatechol. The best catalytic system was obtained when the first-generation dendrimer 2e was employed as a ligand for Cu(II), showing that the stability of the catalyst could be improved by incorporating 2,2′-dipyridylamine into a dendritic material.