The metabolism of short chain alcohols is a vital process for various organisms, not just ethanol consumers. Enzymes like galactose oxidase (GOase) promote this by catalyzing the oxidation of the alcohols to aldehydes. GOase has copper at the active site but differs from most copper enzymes in having just one copper atom instead of two. This project focuses on a specific group of alcohol oxidizing reagents synthesized of copper Schiff bases to make compounds that model the half-way point of the oxidation. This cannot be done with the enzymes themselves. The purpose of this project is to make and study various unique mononuclear copper complexes, in order to propose a mechanism by which the oxidation is possible.