István Lippai, Gábor Speier, Gottfried Huttner and László Zsolnai
Flavonol reacts with metallic copper in the presence of 2,2′-bipyridine to give dihydrogen and a mixture of compounds with the stoichiometric composition [CuI(bpy)(fla)] from which on standing only [CuI(bpy)2]2[CuI(fla)3 ] can be isolated; oxygenation of the solution of the mixture results in the ketocarboxylatocopper(II) complex [CuII(bpy)(fla)(2-HOC6H4COCO2 )], which hints at a copper-mediated oxidative cleavage of the pyranone ring in the flavonolate ligand via a 1,2-dioxethane intermediate by 3O2.