Crystal structure of [2-({[2-(dimethylamino-κN)ethyl]imino-κN}methyl)phenolato-κO](1,10-phen-anthroline-κ2 N,N')copper(II) perchlorate.

The title compound, [Cu(C11H15N2O)(C12H8N2)]ClO4 or [Cu(L)(phen)](ClO4) {where L refers to the deprotonated form of 2-[(2-di-methyl-amino-ethyl-imino)-meth-yl]phenol} and phen is 1,10-phenanthroline) is a mononuclear mixed ligand copper(II) complex. The CuII atom is coordinated by two N and one O atoms of the tridentate Schiff base ligand (HL) and two N atoms of the 1,10-phenanthroline ligand, resulting in a five-coordinate complex. The asymmetric unit of the title complex contains two crystallographically independent complex cations (a and b) with a slightly different geometry around the CuII ion. The value of the trigonality index τ, indicates that in both cations a and b, the CuII atoms display a square-pyramidal distorted trigonal-bipyramidal (SPDTBP) geometry, although the distortion is greater for cation a.