Copper(II)-mediated self-assembling of hydrophilic oxybathophenanthroline dendrons

Derivatives of 1,10-phenanthroline and their metal complexes are of considerable interest in bioinorganic chemistry, biology and medicine.¹ In this nexus, dendritic modification gain in importance as they open the way for tailoring nano dimension, and solubility or complexation behaviour.² We described hydrophobic oxybathophenanthroline ligands with attached Frechet-type dendrons capable of forming stable copper(II) complexes in organic media.³ Currently, effort is also to be devoted to the synthesis of hydrophilic 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline ligands LG1 – LG3 containing short methoxypolyethoxy (‘PEG’) groups on the surface. Radiotracer experiments using ⁶⁴Cu and time-resolved laser-induced spectroscopy point to a spontaneous formation of stable 1:2 complexes (metal:ligand) with copper(II) in aqueous solution.