A sugar discriminating binuclear copper(II) complex.

We investigated the complex formation between various underivatized carbohydrates and the binuclear copper(II) complex 1, Cu(2)(bpdpo). A combined approach of UV/vis and CD spectroscopic investigations shows a large discrimination ability of 1 for structurally closely related monosaccharides in alkaline solution. The dominating form of the binuclear copper(II) complex consists of a [Cu(2)L(-)(H)(OH)(2)](+) species between pH 11 and 13, as determined from pH-dependent spectrophotometric titration experiments. The binding strengths of the 1:1 sugar-1 complexes, derived from the biologically important monosaccharides d-mannose (3) and d-glucose (5), is about 1.5 orders of magnitude different at pH 12.40. Moreover, a blue- or a red-shift of the absorption maximum of 1 accompanies the sugar binding and highlights the ability of 1 to discriminate carbohydrates. This phenomenon is due to the number of hydroxyl groups of the particular monosaccharide involved in chelation to the binuclear metal complex.