COPPER(II) MIXED-CARBOXYLATES AS SOLVENT-CUM-CATALYST
IONIC LIQUIDS: {Cu2[p-H3NC6H4COO]2[CH3(CH2)nCOO)2}Cl2
Zaimatul ‘Azian Kamarazaman* and Norbani Abdullah
Chemistry Department, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
amzafds@yahoo.com
Abstract
Ionic liquids are ionic compounds with melting points around 100oC. Current active
researches in ionic liquids are mainly based on imidazolium cations. This paper discusses a
different class of ionic liquids, namely metal-containing ionic liquids, designed to function
as solvent-cum-catalysts in C-C bond forming reactions of solid methyl ketones and
aldehydes, as potential materials for molecular electronic, spintronic and photonic, and
also as ionic metallomesogens. The general formula of the ionic liquids are [Cu2(pH3NC6H4COO)2(CH3(CH2)nCOO)2]Cl2, where n = 1-4, and 14. The synthetic methods
explored are a one-pot reaction of CuCl2 with CH3(CH2)nCOOK and p-H2NC6H4COOH,
reaction of Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 with CH3(CH2)nCOOH and p-H2NC6H4COOH, and ligandexchange reaction of Cu2(CH3(CH2)nCOO)4 with Cu2(p-H2NC6H4COO)4. The materials
obtained were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, cyclic
voltammetry, thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry.
Keywords: Copper(II) mixed carboxylates, ionic liquids, synthesis, FTIR, CV, TGA,
DSC.