Synthesis,crystal structures,and antimicrobial activity of a pair of isostructural dinuclear copper(II) complexes derived from 4-nitro-2-[(2-diethylaminoethylimino)methyl]phenol

A pair of isostructural azido- or thiocyanato-bridged centrosymmetric dinuclear copper(II) complexes, [Cu₂L₂(μ_1,3-N₃)₂] (1) and [Cu₂L₂(μ_1,3-NCS)₂] (2), derived from the Schiff base ligand 4-nitro-2-[(2-diethylaminoethylimino)methyl]phenol (HL), have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectra and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Each Cu atom in the complexes is five-coordinate in a square pyramidal geometry by one O and two N atoms of one Schiff base ligand, and by two terminal donor atoms from two bridging azide or thiocyanate ligands. Both the azide and thiocyanate ligands adopt end-to-end bridging mode in the complexes. The distance between the two copper atoms is 5.205(2) Å for (1) and 5.515(2) Å for (2). The antimicrobial activity of the complexes has been tested.