Dissociation of CuH+ and ZnH+ complexes of ethylenediamine and their N-methylated homologues: Family and neighbours, but not the same

- Complexes of CuH+ and ZnH+ with H2NCH2CH2NH2 eliminate Cu(0) and Zn(0).
- Experiment and theory agree that the associated TS is larger for the zinc complex.
- The high TS for the zinc complex allows competition with NH3 loss.
- N-methyl substitution has no effect on the behaviour of the CuH+ complex ions.
- In contrast, N-methyl substituted complexes with ZnH+ predominantly loses ZnH2.