Tris(2-{[2-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethyl]iminomethyl}phenolato-κ2 N,O 1)cobalt(III)

In the title compound, [Co(C16H16NO2)3], the CoIII atom is six-coordinated in an irregular octahedral geometry by three N,O-chelating 2-{[2-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethyl]iminomethyl}phenolate groups. One of the three methoxy group is disordered over two sets of sites with an occupancy ratio of 0.768 (5):0.232 (5). The crystal packing can be described by alternating zigzag layers of organic ligands and CoN3O3 octahedra along the c axis. There are no classical hydrogen bonds in the structure, but C—H⋯π interactions occur.

In the title compound, [Co(C 16 H 16 NO 2 ) 3 ], the Co III atom is six-coordinated in an irregular octahedral geometry by three N,O-chelating 2-{[2-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethyl]iminomethyl}phenolate groups. One of the three methoxy group is disordered over two sets of sites with an occupancy ratio of 0.768 (5):0.232 (5). The crystal packing can be described by alternating zigzag layers of organic ligands and CoN 3 O 3 octahedra along the c axis. There are no classical hydrogen bonds in the structure, but C-HÁ Á Á interactions occur.
Cg1 and Cg2 are the centroids of the C52-C57 and C42-C47 rings, respectively. aldehyde to give N-Salicylidene(4-methoxyphenylethylamine) as bidentate Schiff base ligand (HL). This ligand, dissolved in absolute ethanol with a cobalt salt leads to the formation of its corresponding cobalt complex (Co(III)-3L).

D-HÁ
The electrocatalytic performaces of this cobalt complex towards the oxidation saturated hydrocarbons or epoxidation of olefins via cytochrome P450 model (Yu et al., 2003) by using molecular oxygen is now under progress in our laboratory (Ourari et al., 2008;Ourari et al., 2011). Thus, we report here the synthesis of title compound and its crystal structure.
The molecular geometry of (I), and the atomic numbering used, is illustrated in Fig. 1 octahedral along the c axis (Fig. 2). C-H···π interactions consolidate the stabilization (Table 2).
Experimental 151 mg (1 mmol) of (4-methoxyphenyl)ethylamine were dissolved in 8 ml of absolute ethanol and placed in three necked flask surmounted by a condenser. Then, an ethanolic solution of 122 mg (1 mmol) of salicylaldehyde (5 ml) was added drop wise to the previous solution. After addition of the first drops under stirring, the solution turns to the yellow color and then is heated to reflux for 2 h. 238 mg of cobalt chloride hexahydrated (CoCl 2 ,6H 2 O) were also dissolved in 8 ml of absolute ethanol and added to the ligand solution. This mixture was refluxed again under stirring for 2 other hours to give finally a solid which is recovered by filtration, washed several times with small portions of distilled water. The solid (crystals) was dried in vaccuo in presence of CaCl 2 to yield 168 mg (61%).

Refinement
H atoms were localized on Fourier maps but introduced in calculated positions and treated as riding on their parent atoms (C) with C-H = 0.98 Å (methyl), 0.99 Å (methylene) and 0.95 Å (aromatic) with U iso (H) = 1.2U eq (C aromatic , C methylene and C methyl ) and U iso (H) = 1.5U eq (C methyl ).

Figure 1
The molecular geometry of (I) with the atom-labeling scheme. Displacement ellipsoids are drawn at the 50% probability level.

Figure 2
Packing diagram of (I) viewed down b-axis showing altering layers in zigzag.  where P = (F o 2 + 2F c 2 )/3 (Δ/σ) max = 0.002 Δρ max = 1.10 e Å −3 Δρ min = −0.30 e Å −3 Special details Geometry. All e.s.d.'s (except the e.s.d. in the dihedral angle between two l.s. planes) are estimated using the full covariance matrix. The cell e.s.d.'s are taken into account individually in the estimation of e.s.d.'s in distances, angles and torsion angles; correlations between e.s.d.'s in cell parameters are only used when they are defined by crystal symmetry. An approximate (isotropic) treatment of cell e.s.d.'s is used for estimating e.s.d.'s involving l.s. planes. Refinement. Refinement of F 2 against ALL reflections. The weighted R-factor wR and goodness of fit S are based on F 2 , conventional R-factors R are based on F, with F set to zero for negative F 2 . The threshold expression of F 2 > σ(F 2 ) is used only for calculating R-factors(gt) etc. and is not relevant to the choice of reflections for refinement. R-factors based on F 2 are statistically about twice as large as those based on F, and R-factors based on ALL data will be even larger.

Fractional atomic coordinates and isotropic or equivalent isotropic displacement parameters (Å 2 )
x y z U iso */U eq Occ. (