Crystal structure of anhydrous poly[bis(mu(2)-sarcosinato-kappa(3) O,N:O ') copper(II)]

The title compound, [Cu(C3H6NO2)(2)](n), is a bis-complex of the anion of sarcosine (N-methylglycine). The asymmetric unit consists of a copper(II) ion, located on a center of inversion, and one molecule of the uninegative sarcosinate anion. The copper(II) ion exhibits a typical Jahn-Teller distorted [4 + 2] coordination geometry. The four shorter equatorial bonds are to the nitrogen and carboxylate O atoms of two sarcosinate anions, and the longer axial bonds are to carboxylate O atoms of neighboring complexes. The overall structure is made up from two chains formed by these longer axial Cu-O bonds, one extending parallel to [0(1) over bar 1] and the other parallel to [011]. Each onedimensional array is connected by the equatorial bridging moieties to the chains on either side, creating an extended two-dimensional framework parallel to (100). There is a single intermolecular hydrogen-bonding interaction within the sheets between the amino NH group and an O atom of an adjacent molecule.