Metal coordination and stacking effects in supramolecular catalysis. Effects of structural variations of copper complexes for the hydrolysis of phosphate esters

Until now barely explored stacking effects with rate constant enhancements by up to two orders of magnitudes and total accelerations of about 107 are found by introduction of aromatic substituents at the N atoms of ethylenediamine of Cu(II) complexes. Ligands containing more than two nitrogen atoms show as an often overlooked factor a strong dependence of the efficiency towards metal coordination.