Countercations and Solvent Influence CO2 Reduction to Oxalate by Chalcogen-Bridged Tricopper Cyclophanates

One-electron reduction of Cu3EL (L3– = tris­(β-diketiminate)­cyclophane, and E = S, Se) affords [Cu3EL]−, which reacts with CO2 to yield exclusively C2O42– (95% yield, TON = 24) and regenerate Cu3EL. Stopped-flow UV/visible data support an A→B mechanism under pseudo-first-order conditions (kobs, 298K = 115(2) s–1), which is 106 larger than those for reported copper complexes. The kobs values are dependent on the countercation and solvent (e.g., kobs is greater for [K­(18-crown-6)]+ vs (Ph3P)2N+, and there is a 20-fold decrease in kobs in THF vs DMF). Our results suggest a mechanism in which cations and solvent influence the stability of the transition state.