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The present study reports the synthesis and rational design of porous structured materials by using a templating method. A tetraethoxysilylated tripodal tetraamine (TREN) was covalently incorporated in a silica framework with a double imprint: A surfactant template and a metal ion imprint. The presence of a cationic surfactant (CTAB) endowed the material with a high porosity, and the tripodal or square-pyramidal topology of the ligand was preserved thanks to the use of the silylated Cu(II) complex. After removal of the surfactant and de-metalation, the incorporated tetraamine was quantitatively complexed by CuCl(2) and the material has shown after thermal activation that a reversible binding of O(2) on the metal ions occurred. This chemisorption process was monitored by UV/Vis and EPR spectroscopies, and the Cu:O(2) adduct was postulated to be an end-on mu-eta(1):eta(1)-peroxodicopper(II) complex bridged by a chloride ion. The Cu(I)-active species, formed during the activation step, were fully recovered during several O(2) binding cycles. The high reactivity of the copper complexes and the room-temperature stability of the dioxygen adduct were explained by the fine adaptability of the tripodal ligand to different geometries, the confinement of the active sites in the hybrid silica that protect them from degradation by a control of the metal-ion microenvironment, as well as the short-range lamellar order of the copper complexes in the framework.

We report the exceptional reactivity towards dioxygen of a nanostructured organic-inorganic hybrid material due to the confinement of copper cyclam within a silica matrix. The key step is the metalation reaction of the ligand, which can occur before or after xerogel formation through the sol-gel process. The incorporation of a Cu(II) center into the material after xerogel formation leads to a bridged Cu(I)/Cu(II) mixed-valence dinuclear species. This complex exhibits a very high affinity towards dioxygen, attributable to auto-organization of the active species in the solid. The remarkable properties of these copper complexes in the silica matrix demonstrate a high cooperative effect for O(2) adsorption; this is induced by close confinement of the two copper ions leading to end-on mu-eta(1):eta(1)-peroxodicopper(II) complexes. The anisotropic packing of the tetraazamacrocycle in a lamellar structure induces an exceptional reactivity of these copper complexes. We show for the first time that the organic-inorganic environment of copper complexes in a silica matrix fully model the protecting role of protein in metalloenzymes. For the first time an oxygenated dicopper(II) complex can be isolated in a stable form at room temperature, and the reduced Cu(2) (I,I) species can be regenerated after several adsorption-desorption cycles. These data also demonstrate that the coordination scheme and reactivity of the copper cyclams within the solid are quite different from that observed in solution.