Bismesitoylphosphinic Acid (BAPO‐OH): A Ligand for Copper Complexes and Four‐Electron Photoreductant for the Preparation of Copper Nanomaterials

Abstract

Bismesitoylphosphinic acid, (HO)PO(COMes) 2 (BAPO-OH), is an efficient photoinitiator for free-radical polymerizations of olefins in aqueous phase.D escribed here are the structures of various copper(II) and copper(I) complexes with BAPO-OH as the ligand. The complex Cu II -(BAPO-O) 2 (H 2 O) 2 is photoactive,a nd under irradiation with UV light in aqueous phase,i ts erves as as ource of metallic copper in high purity and yield (> 80 %). Simultaneously,t he radical polymerization of acrylates can be initiated and allows the preparation of nanoparticle/polymer nanocomposites in which the metallic Cu nanoparticles are protected against oxidation. The determination of the stoichiometry of the photoreductions suggests an almost quantitative conversion from Cu II into Cu 0 with half an equivalent of BAPO-OH, which serves as afour-electron photoreductant.Supportinginformation and the ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under: https://doi.