Heteroleptic Copper(I) Complexes Prepared from Mono‐ and Tetra‐phenylbenzene‐substituted Phenanthroline Ligands

Abstract Phenanthroline ligands bearing two biphenyl ( L1 ) or tetraarylbenzene L2 substituents have been synthetized and used to prepare bis‐phenanthroline copper(I) complexes. Steric constraints are limited in the case of biphenyl‐substituted ligand [Cu( 2 ](BF 4 has obtained by reaction with [Cu(CH 3 CN) ). In contrast, large enough totally prevent formation corresponding homoleptic complex. Both also combined 2,9‐dimethyl‐1,10‐phenanthroline (dmp) heteroleptic All complexes from revealed dynamic conformational exchange between several atropisomers. Detailed NMR studies Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations carried out assess their conformations solution.