The title complex, [Cu(NO2)(2)(C15H26N2)], has been prepared and its crysta
l structure determined, The chiral nitrogen-chelating alkaloid (-)-spartein
e acts as a bidentate ligand, reacting with one Cu-II ion in ethanol to for
m the title complex, with two nitrite groups occupying the remaining coordi
nation sites to produce a distorted five-coordinate square-pyramidal struct
ure, One nitrite is bound through one O atom and the other nitrite acts as
a eta(2)-chelating group.