Reversible dioxygen uptake at [Cu4] clusters

Abstract

Dioxygen binding solely through non-covalent interactions is rare. In living systems, dioxygen transport takes place via iron or copper-containing biological cofactors. Specifically, a reversible covalent interaction is established when O₂ binds to the mono or polynuclear metal center. However, O₂ stabilization in the absence of covalent bond formation is challenging and rarely observed. Here, we demonstrate a unique example of reversible non-covalent binding of dioxygen within the cavity of a well-defined synthetic all-Cu(I) tetracopper cluster.