A tetranuclear mu(3)-alkoxo-bridged cubane-like copper(II) complex containing 2-(ethylamino)ethanol and acetate: Synthesis and structural characterization

Abstract

A tetranuclear cubane-like complex, [Cu-4(mu-Etae)(4)(OAC)(4)](H2O)-H-. (1), with 2-(ethylamino)ethanol (EtaeH) and acetate (OAc)(-) ligands has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Complex 1 crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pccn and consists of a tetranuclear [Cu4O4](4+) cubane core in which four copper(II) ions are bridged by mu(3)-alkoxide oxygen atoms of the Etae(-) anion. The amine N atom of Etae(-), and one of the O atom OAc also coordinate to the copper(II) ions forming a distorted square-pyramidal geometry with a CuO4N chromophore. The (CuCu)-Cu-... separations with in the [Cu4O4]4(+) cubanerange from 2.905(2) to 3.377(2) angstrom, and these short Cu-Cu separations are responsible for the anti-ferromagnetic coupling between the copper centers. The cubane-like units are linked by N-(HO)-O-... hydrogen bonds into one-dimensional supramolecular chains, which are further arranged in a two-dimensional array by van der Waal's interactions.