Ligand substitution at five-coordinate copper(II) centres by cyanate, chloride and bromide ions

Abstract

The substitution of the aqua[tris{2-(dimethylamino)ethyl}amine]copper(II) ion by cyanate, chloride and bromide ions has been studied in aqueous solution by static and stopped-flow spectrophoto-metric techniques. This process is unusually slow for ligand substitution at a copper(II) centre and appears to proceed through an interchange mechanism in which the copper(II)-aqua ligand bond makes a major contribution to the transition state energetics.