page_title: Cuprate
section_title: Organic cuprates
hierarchical_section_title: Cuprate / Organic cuprates
caption_attribution_description: Skeletal formula of a dimer from the crystal structure of lithium diphenylcuprate etherate, Ph2CuLi·2OEt2. X-ray crystallographic data from Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (1990) 29, 300-302.
context_page_description: Cuprate loosely refers to a material that can be viewed as containing anionic copper complexes. Examples include tetrachloridocuprate, the superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O₇, and the organocuprates. The term cuprates derives from the Latin word for copper, cuprum. The term is mainly used in three contexts - oxide materials, anionic coordination complexes, and anionic organocopper compounds.
context_section_description: Cuprates have a role in organic synthesis. Organic cuprates often have the formula [CuR₂]⁻ or [CuR₃]²⁻, where R is an alkyl or aryl.  These reagents find use as nucleophilic alkylating reagents.  In stark contrast to the oxidic cuprates, the handling of these organocopper requires air-free techniques.
caption: Skeletal formula of a dimer from the crystal structure of lithium diphenylcuprate etherate, 2Ph2CuLi·2OEt2[8]
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