Bis(3,5-di-nitro-benzoato-κO)bis-(ethane-1,2-di-amine-κ2 N,N')cadmium(II).

During systematic investigations of bioavailability and biological action enhancement of well known compounds with low bioactivity, a new mixed-ligand metal complex, [Cd(DNBA)2(en)2)] (DNBA = 3,5-di-nitro-benzoate, C7H3N2O6; en = ethyl-endi-amine, C2H8N2), has been synthesized. The complex mol-ecules are located on inversion centers. Two DNBA anions monodentately coordinate the CdII atom through an oxygen atom of the carboxyl-ate group while two en mol-ecules coordinate in a chelate fashion, resulting in a distorted O2N4 coordination set. There is a weak intra-molecular hydrogen bond of 3.099 (4) Å between the non-coordinating oxygen atom of the carboxyl-ate group and one of the en amine groups. Three relatively weak inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds associate complex mol-ecules into sheets extending parallel to (01), which are further stabilized by π-π inter-actions. A Hirshfeld surface analysis of the crystal structure indicates that the most important contributions to the crystal packing are from H⋯O/O⋯H (50.2%) and H⋯H (21.1%) inter-actions.