Crystal and molecular structures of di-µ-azido-bis-[N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine azido copper(II)]

The title compound has been synthesized and its structure at room temperature has been solved. It crystallizes in the space groupP2₁/c, witha=9.581(5),b=13.746(4),c=8.869(1) Å, β=101.000(5)°, andZ=2. The structure was refined toR=0.029 from 1738 reflections. It consists of centrosymmetric dimeric units with two asymmetric end-to-end azido bridges. Each copper(II) ion is fivefold coordinated in the form of a slightly distorted square-based pyramid CuN₅. The apical position is occuped by a nitrogen atom of the azido bridge with a Cu-N apical bond of 2.456(6) Å. The Cu-N bond with the azido bridge in the basal plane is 1.979(5) Å. The intradimer Cu?Cu distance is 5.004(2) Å. The magnetic properties and the X-band EPR spectrum are interpreted in the light of these structural data.