Bis[N‐(2‐hydroxy­ethyl)‐β‐alaninato]copper(II)

The Cu^II ion in the title complex, [Cu(C₅H₁₀NO₃)₂] or [Cu(He‐ala)₂] [He‐ala = N‐(2‐hydroxy­ethyl)‐β‐alaninate], resides at the inversion centre of a square bipyramid comprised of two facially arranged tridentate He‐ala ligands. Each He‐ala ligand binds to a Cu^II ion by forming one six‐membered β‐alaninate chelate ring in a twist conformation and one five‐membered ethanol­amine ring in an envelope conformation, with Cu—N = 2.017 (2) Å, Cu—O_COO = 1.968 (1) Å and Cu—O_OH = 2.473 (2) Å. The [Cu(He‐ala)₂] mol­ecules are involved in a network of O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming layers parallel to the (10) plane. The layers are connected into a three‐dimensional structure by van der Waals inter­actions, so that the mol­ecular centres form pseudo‐face‐centered close packing.