Synthesis, characterization, and investigation of the catalytic activities of copper-benzimidazole aniline complexes in alcohol oxidation

Catalysts are compounds that have a wide range of uses in industry and usually contain a transition metal in their structure. The structures of these compounds can be designed with different electronic and structural arrangements in order to obtain the target product more efficiently and more economically. Reactions proceeding with a catalyst have many advantages, such as less energy, time and cost.Alcohol oxidation reactions are widely used in many fields to obtain aldehydes, ketones or carboxylic acids required as intermediate products or starting materials. Benzimidazoles have attracted much attention in recent years with their chemical stability and biological activities. At the same time, these compounds have a very important place in the industry due to their properties such as easy bonding with metals, high stability and low toxicity. Within the scope of the presented thesis, 2-(1-ethyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)aniline (Ligant-1), 2-(1-(4-bromobenzyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2 -yl)aniline (Ligant-2), 2-(1-(4-methylbenzyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)aniline (Ligant-3) compounds and their copper complexes were synthesized. Molecular structures of synthesized compounds were elucidated mainly by Single Crystal X-Ray Diffraction Spectroscopy, Elemental Analysis, Infrared Spectroscopy, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, UV- Vis Spectroscopy and Magnetic Susceptibility methods. Subsequently, the catalytic activities of these complexes were tested on the oxidation reactions of various primary and secondary alcohols.