Two crystal structures of copper(II) complexes and adducts based on the neutral N 1,N 1-dimethyl-N 2-(pyridin-2-ylmeth-yl)ethane-1,2-di-amine ligand.

From the reaction of copper(II) chloride dihydrate with N 1,N 1-dimethyl-N 2-(pyridin-2-ylmeth-yl)ethane-1,2-di-amine (denoted N^N^N) a new species comprising three distinct complexes crystallized, namely, aqua-chlorido-[N 1,N 1-dimethyl-N 2-(pyridin-2-ylmeth-yl)ethane-1,2-di-amine-κ3 N,N',N'']copper(II)chlorido-[N 1,N 1-dimethyl-N 2-(pyridin-2-ylmeth-yl)ethane-1,2-di-amine-κ3 N,N',N'']copper(II) tetra-chlorido-cuprate(II), [CuCl(C10H17N3)(H2O)][CuCl(C10H17N3)][CuCl4] or [Cu(N^N^N)(H2O)Cl][Cu(N^N^N)Cl2][CuCl4], the latter two of which form an adduct. This complex was reacted with ammonium thio-cyanate to form [Cu(N^N^N)(NCS)2], which crystallized with two independent mol-ecules and a partial water in the asymmetric unit very similarly to the already reported structure of this compound. Both crystal structures show a rather complex set of inter-molecular inter-actions including hydrogen bonding and what may be described as chalcogen bonding, pnictogen bonding and/or coinage bonding. The mol-ecular structures, intra-molecular inter-actions and packing patterns are discussed in detail and the more unusual ones are set into the context of structures available in the literature.