The reaction of Cu
2(O
2CMe)
4·2H
2O with
tert-butylphosphonic acid and 3,5-di-
tert-butylpyrazole in the presence oftriethylamine leads to a high-yield synthesis of the tetranu
clear compound [Cu
2(3,5-
t-Bu
2PzH)
2(
t-BuPO
3)
2]
2 (
1). Thelatter has a distorted cubic cage structure and its core resembles the D4R (double-four-ring) motif found in zeolites.The phosphonate, [
t-BuPO
3]
2-, functions as a dianionic tridentate ligand, while the pyrazole ligands are neutraland are monodentate. The coordination geometry at each copper atom is distorted square planar with a 3O,1Ncoordination environment. Magnetic measurements on
1 reveal that the
T product continuously decreases toreach a value very
close to zero at 1.8 K, indicating dominant antiferromagnetic interactions between Cu(II) ionsthat leads to an
S = 0 ground state. The tetranu
clear cage
1 functions as a very effective artificial nu
clease in thepresence of an external oxidant, magnesium monoperoxyphthalate.