Poly[bis-(μ2-1,3-phenyl-enedi-amine-κ(2) N:N')di-μ-thio-cyanato-κ(2) N:S;κ(2) S:N-cadmium].

The structure of the title polymeric compound, [Cd(SCN)2(C6H8N2)2] n , exhibits a two-dimensional staircase-like structure parallel to (010) in which the Cd(II) atom lies on a twofold rotation axis and has a distorted octa-hedral CdS2N4 geometry involving four μ-1,3-(SCN) group donors and two N-atom donors from 1,3-phenyl-enedi-amine ligands, which also have twofold symmetry. The major contributions to the cohesion and the stability of this two-dimensional polymeric structure are the covalent Cd-S,N bonds and one weak intra-layer N-H⋯S hydrogen bond.