Multiple bridging modes in a novel trinuclear titanium 1,3-dioxypropane compound, Ti3(methyliminodiethanolate)2(1,3-propanediolate)4.

The title compound, bis(2,2'-methyliminodiethanolato)-1kappa(3)O,N,O';3kappa(3)O,N,O'-di-micro(3)-propane-1,3-diolato-1:2:3kappa(8)O:O,O':O'-micro-propane-1,3-diolato-1:3kappa(2)O:O'-propane-1,3-diolato-2kappa(2)O,O'-trititanium(IV), [Ti(3)(C(5)H(11)NO(2))(2)(C(3)H(6)O(2))(4)], has four 1,3-propanediolate ligands binding in three different modes. Two ligands chelate adjacent Ti atoms with normal micro(3)-O bridges, giving typical edge-sharing of the Ti distorted octahedra, one chelating to the central Ti atom with no micro-bridging, and the other spanning the cluster, binding only to the outermost Ti atoms. The two methyliminodiethanolate ligands each coordinate to the outer Ti atoms via their N and two O atoms. The Ti-O bond lengths range, in a self-consistent fashion, from 1.816 (2) to 2.082 (2) A, while the average Ti-N distance is 2.391 (3) A.