Bis[N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-N-methylglycinato]copper(II)

The title compound, [Cu(C5H10NO3)(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-dimethylaminoethanol in acetonitrile, in air. The molecule is centrosymmetric with two monodeprotonated N(2-hydroxyethyl)-N-methylglycines 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 octahedral geometry, with the N and the O atoms from the carboxylate groups in the equatorial plane. In the crystal structure, intermolecular O-H center dot center dot center dot O hydrogen-bonding interactions from the alkoxide functions of the ligand through the inversion centre form columns of molecules propagated along the a axis.