Role of Imidazole and Chelate Ring Size in Copper Oxidation Catalysts: An Experimental and Theoretical Study.

In this work, the structural, solution, electrochemical, and catalytic properties of the complexes with ligands derived from imidazole and pyridines were studied. A comparative study of five bioinspired copper catalysts with or without coordinated imidazole and with different chelate ring sizes is presented. Catalytic efficiency on the oxidation of 3,5-di-butylcatechol (DTBC) and -aminophenol (OAP) in a MeOH/HO medium was assessed by means of the Michaelis-Menten model.