Structural and spectroscopic study on imidazole-copper(II)-N-protected amino acid complexes. Crystal and molecular structure of tetrakis(imidazole) coppper(II)bis(N-tosylvalinate).

A pink-red air-stable, crystalline compound of empirical formula [Cu(Im)4(N-tsval)2] (Im=imidazole; ts=4-toluenesulfonyl group, hereafter abbreviated as tosyl;N-tsval=N-tosylvalinate monoanion) was synthesized and characterized by means of structural and spectroscopic measurements. The crystal structure of the compound was determined from three-dimensional diffractometer data. The crystals are monoclinic, space groupC2/c, a=18.952 (5),b=12.372 (2),c=17.594 (3) Å,beta=93.77 (2)°,Z=4. The structure was solved by the heavy-atom method and refined through least-squares calculations toR=0.035 for 2284 observed reflections. The coordination about the copper atom is elongated octahedral, with four imidazole molecules as equatorial ligands and two sulfonic oxygens in axial positions.