Dichlorido(4,7-dimethoxy-1,10-phenanthroline-κ2 N,N′)zinc(II)

In the crystal structure of the title compound, the central zinc(II) metal atom is surrounded by two N atoms of a bidentate 4,7-methoxy-1,10-phenanthroline ligand and two chlorido ligands in a distorted tetrahedral coordination environment.


Structure description
Over the last five years, metal complexes containing 4,7-dimethoxy-1,10-phenanthroline have garnered significant attention due to their catalytic activity (EL-Atawy et al., 2018;Liu et al., 2020) and potential as antitumor agents (Khoury et al., 2022).Likewise, oxidovanadium(IV) complexes incorporating 4,7-dimethoxy-1,10-phenanthroline have been found to be effective against several cancer cell lines, including A2780 human ovarian adenocarcinoma and HCT116 human colorectal carcinoma (Choroba et al., 2023).Currently, our research group focuses on creating metal complexes that have uses in biological systems.As part of this work, herein we present the synthesis and crystal structure of the title complex, which shows promise as a valuable precursor for the synthesis of novel zinc(II) complexes.
The title complex packs into layers parallel to (201) (Fig. 2).Contiguous pyridine rings show weak �-� stacking interactions, with centroid-to-centroid distances (Cg� � �Cg) alternating between 3.5969 (11) and 3.7738 (11) A ˚, and offset distances of 1.370 and 1.822A ˚, respectively.No other significant supramolecular interactions are present in the crystal packing of the title compound.

Synthesis and crystallization
The title complex was synthesized by the addition of 4,7dimethoxy-1,10-phenanthroline (0.176 g, 0.733 mmol) to a 40.0 ml acetonitrile suspension of zinc(II) chloride (0.100 g, 0.733 mmol).After the ligand was added, the resulting solution was heated at 333 K and stirred for 2 h.The resulting solution was then filtrated using a PTFE syringe filter to obtain a clear solution.Crystal suitable for X-ray diffraction were grown by vapor diffusion of diethyl ether over a saturated acetonitrile solution of the title complex.

Figure 1
The molecular structure of the title compound with displacement ellipsoids drawn at the 50% probability level; H atoms are omitted for clarity.Symmetry code: (i) À x + 1, y, À z + 1 2 .

Figure 2
Perspective view of the crystal packing of the title complex approximately along the b axis; H atoms are omitted for clarity.

Special details
Geometry.All esds (except the esd in the dihedral angle between two l.s.planes) are estimated using the full covariance matrix.The cell esds are taken into account individually in the estimation of esds in distances, angles and torsion angles; correlations between esds in cell parameters are only used when they are defined by crystal symmetry.An approximate (isotropic) treatment of cell esds is used for estimating esds involving l.s.planes.

Table 2
Experimental details.