Bis[N-(2-hydroxy-ethyl)-N-methyl-glycinato]copper(II).

The title compound, [Cu(C(5)H(10)NO(3))(2)], was obtained unintentionally as the product of an attempted synthesis of a Cu/Cd mixed-metal mixed-anion complex using zerovalent copper, cadmium(II) oxide and two ammonium salts in the presence of 2-dimethyl-amino-ethanol in acetonitrile, in air. The mol-ecule is centrosymmetric with two monodeprotonated N-(2-hydroxy-ethyl)-N-methyl-glycines coordinated to the metal in a tridentate mode, giving a bicyclic chelate with two distorted five-membered rings. The Cu(II) ion possesses a distorted octa-hedral geometry, with the N and the O atoms from the carboxyl-ate groups in the equatorial plane. In the crystal structure, inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter-actions from the alkoxide functions of the ligand through the inversion centre form columns of mol-ecules propagated along the a axis.