Structure of aqua-bis(ethylenediamine)copper(II) bis(2,6-dimethylphenolate)

The single-crystal X-ray structure of [Cu(en)(2)(H2O)](dmp)(2) (en = 1,2-di aminoethane and dmp = 2,6-dimethylphenolate) shows the copper(II) ion in a quite regular square pyramidal N4O environment. The phenolate is not coordi nated to the metal ion. Instead, the oxygen atom of each of the phenolate a nions participates in three hydrogen bonds to the H atoms of the coordinate d water and ethylenediamine ligands. These hydrogen atoms connect the catio ns and the anions in infinite polymeric chains, thereby apparently preventi ng the copper ions from reduction by dmp. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. Al l rights reserved.