Bis(2‐{1‐[(2,4,6‐trimethylphenyl)imino]ethyl}pyrrol‐1‐ido‐κ2N,N′)nickel(II): a supramolecular structure formed by C—H...π(arene) hydrogen bonds

<!?tlsb=‐0.2pt>Nitrogen‐based polydentate ligands are of interest owing to their flexible complexation to transition metal atoms. For the title compound, Ni(C₁₅H₁₇N₂)₂], a transition metal complex formed by the coordination of two identical N,N′‐bidentate mono(imino)pyrrolyl ligands to an Ni^II centre, an X‐ray crystal diffraction study indicates that the two ligands show an inverted arrangement with respect to one another around the Ni^II centre, which is located on a crystallographic inversion centre. The planes of the aromatic substituents at the imine N atoms of the ligands show dihedral angles of 85.91 (5)° with respect to the NiN₄ plane. The Ni—N bond lengths are in the range 1.9072 (15)–1.9330 (15) Å and the N_imino—Ni—N_pyrrole bite angles are 83.18 (6)°. The Ni—N_pyrrole bond is substantially shorter than the Ni—N_imino bond. Molecules are linked into an extensive network by means of intermolecular C—H...π(arene) hydrogen bonds in which every molecule acts both as hydrogen‐bond donor and acceptor. The supramolecular assembly takes the form of an infinite two‐dimensional sheet.