Bis{μ-2-[1-(2-Pyridylmethylimino)ethyl]phenolato}bis[azidocopper(II)]

The title compound, [Cu2(C14H13N2O)2(N3)2], was synthesized by the reaction of Cu(NO3)2·3H2O with the Schiff base 2-[1-(2-pyridylmethylimino)ethyl]phenol (HL) in methanol–water solution, adding NaN3 as the bridging ligand. The asymmetric unit contains one half-molecule, the other half being generated by the inversion center. Each CuII atom shows a slightly distorted trigonal-pyramidal geometry formed by two N atoms and one O atom from one Schiff base ligand, by another O atom of a second Schiff base ligand and by an azide N atom. The crystal structure is stabilized by intermolecular C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds.

The title compound, [Cu 2 (C 14 H 13 N 2 O) 2 (N 3 ) 2 ], was synthesized by the reaction of Cu(NO 3 ) 2 Á3H 2 O with the Schiff base 2-[1-(2-pyridylmethylimino)ethyl]phenol (HL) in methanol-water solution, adding NaN 3 as the bridging ligand. The asymmetric unit contains one half-molecule, the other half being generated by the inversion center. Each Cu II atom shows a slightly distorted trigonal-pyramidal geometry formed by two N atoms and one O atom from one Schiff base ligand, by another O atom of a second Schiff base ligand and by an azide N atom. The crystal structure is stabilized by intermolecular C-HÁ Á ÁN hydrogen bonds.

Related literature
For the potential applications in catalysis and enzymatic reactions, magnetism and molecular architecture of transition metal compounds containing Schiff base ligands, see: Li & Zhang (2004); You & Zhu (2004). For the synthesis, see: Pointeau et al. (1986).
Supplementary data and figures for this paper are available from the IUCr electronic archives (Reference: AT2842).

Comment
Transition metal compounds containing Schiff base ligands have been of great interest since many years. These compounds play an important role in the development of coordination chemistry related to their potential applications in catalysis and enzymatic reactions, magnetism and molecular architecture (You & Zhu, 2004;Li & Zhang, 2004). We have focused on the synthesis of Schiff base complexes which is formed by 2-(pyridin-2-ylethyliminomethyl)phenol (HL1) and some metal salts. To enrich our studies on schiff bases, we used HL (Pointeau, et al., 1986) instead of HL1 and gained the title compound.
So, we reported this dinuclear copper(II) complex here.
The structure analyses show that complex crystallizes in monoclinic space group P21/n. The asymmetric unit contains only half of the unique molecule, and the other half is related by the inversion center ( Fig.1). The molecule of the title compound is composed of two Cu II atoms, two schiff base ligand 2-[1-(pyridin-2-ylmethylimino)-ethyl]-phenol and two azidos. Each Cu II atom shows a slightly distorted trigonal-bipyramidal geometry formed by two N atoms and one O atom from one schiff base ligand (You & Zhu, 2004), the another O atom of the second schiff base, together with another N atom from azido.
In the structure, there are intra and intermolecular C-H···N hydrogen bond interactions (Table 2).

Refinement
H atoms bound to carbon were placed in geometrical positions and refined using a riding model, with C-H = 0.93-0.97Å and U iso (H) =1.2 or 1.5U eq (C).
supplementary materials sup-2 Figures   Fig. 1. The molecular structure of the title compound with the atom-numbering scheme. Displacement ellipsoids are drawn at the 30% probability level.