Novel Octahedral Bis[2‐(1‐aziridinyl)ethanol‐κ2N,O] Complexes of Cobalt(II)

The synthesis and molecular structure of trans‐{bis(acetato‐κO)‐(2‐(1‐aziridinyl)ethanol‐κ²N,O)]}cobalt(II) ( 4 ) and cis‐{bischlorido‐(2‐(1‐aziridinyl)ethanol‐κ²N,O)]}cobalt(II) ( 5 ) is reported. Both neutral chelate complexes are prepared from the corresponding Co^II salt CoX₂; X = OAc ( 1 ), Cl ( 2 )] and 2‐(1‐aziridinyl)ethanol (azolH, 3 ) in dry dichloromethane. A third, ionic complex, cis‐{bisaqua‐(2‐(1‐aziridinyl)ethanol‐κ²N,O)]}cobalt(II) diacetate ( 6 ) is formed from 4 in the presence of water and could be crystallized from aqueous dichloromethane. In all cases, 2‐(1‐aziridinyl)ethanol is coordinating as bidentate chelate ligand by the nitrogen and oxygen atom of the aziridinyl and hydroxy moiety. After purification, the compounds have been fully characterized using IR spectroscopy and FAB⁺‐MS. The single‐crystal X‐ray structure analysis revealed a distorted octahedral geometry for all complexes with either trans ( 4 ) or cis ( 5 , 6 ) configuration.