Highly-efficient N-arylation of imidazole catalyzed by Cu(II) complexes with quaternary ammonium-functionalized 2-acetylpyridine acylhydrazone

The reaction of (E)-N,N,N-trimethyl-2-oxo-2-(2-(1-(pyridin-2-yl)ethylidene)hydrazinyl)ethan-1-aminium-chloride (HLCl) with copper(II) perchlorate led to mononuclear [CuLCl]ClO4 complex (1). The same reaction with excess of sodium azide gives dinuclear azido double end-on bridged Cu(II) complex [Cu2L2(mu-(1.1)-N-3)(2)](ClO4)(2) (2). In both complexes hydrazone ligand is NNO coordinated in monodeprotonated formally neutral zwitter-ionic form. Complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements for dinuclear Cu(II) complex showed intra-dimer ferromagnetic coupling between Cu(II) ions (J = 7.4 cm(-1)). DFT-BS calculations provided explanation for magnetic properties of dinuclear Cu (II) complex. Both complexes were shown to highly efficiently catalyze the N-arylation of imidazole and benzimidazole with electron-poor or electron-rich aryl iodides, under user-friendly and sustainable conditions. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.