Synthesis and crystal structures of tetraacetylethylenediamine and <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-(2-ammoniumethyl)carbamate

Two ethylenediamine derivatives—N-(2-ammoniumethyl)carbamate HN(COO^?)CH₂CH₂N⁺H₃ (I) and tetraacetylethylenediamine (H₃CC(O))₂NCH₂CH₂N(C(O)CH₃)₂ (II) (synthesized for the first time)—have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography. Compounds I and II are isolated as minor admixtures upon an attempt to synthesize ethylenediamine complexes of lanthanum and neodymium nitrates, respectively. The crystals of I and II are monoclinic: a = 7.778 Å, b = 8.060 Å, c = 7.568 Å, β = 95.73°, Z = 4, space group P2₁/c (I); a = 5.946, b = 10.255, c = 9.343 Å, β = 95.72°, Z = 2, space group P2₁/c (II). The bond lengths and bond angles lie within the corresponding standard values. Compounds I and II have different conformations of the N-C-C-N ethylenediamine moiety: gauche in I and trans in II, and the corresponding torsion angles are equal to 66.6° and 180°, respectively.