Synthesis, crystal structure, and catechol oxidase activity of a di-nuclear paddle-wheel Cu (II) carboxylate complex

A dinuclear copper (II) complex, Cu 2 (RCOO) 4 (L) 2 (1) while [RCOO = benzoate, L = 2-amino-3-chloro-5-trifluoro methyl pyridine], with square pyramidal geometry with four carboxylate bridged groups has been reported. This dinuclear copper (II) unit (with the most robust, frequently occurring paddle wheel structure) was characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, IR, UV, CV, TGA, and EPR studies. It exhibits catechol oxidase activity in methanol medium and the catecholase activity was monitored by the UV–Vis spectroscopy. The kinetic parameters have been determined by using Michaelis–Menten equation which shows that the complex is an efficient catalyst with very high turnover number. Preliminary mechanistic investigation of the catalytic behavior was established with the help of ESI–MS spectra. Graphical Abstract