Strong asymmetric hydrogen bonding in 2‐(oxamoylamino)ethylammonium oxamate–oxamic acid (1/1)

The title compound, C₄H₁₀N₃O₂⁺·C₂H₂NO₃⁻·C₂H₃NO₃, contains at least 11 distinct hydrogen‐bond interactions showing a great variety of bond strengths. The shortest and strongest hydrogen bond O...O = 2.5004 (12) Å] is found between the uncharged oxamic acid molecule and the oxamate monoanion. The grouping formed by such a strong hydrogen bond can thus be considered as a hydrogen bis(oxamate) monoanion. It lacks crystallographic symmetry and the two oxamate groups have different conformations, showing an asymmetric hydrogen‐bond interaction. Significantly, the asymmetry allows us to draw a direct comparison of site basicity for the two inequivalent carboxylate O atoms in the planar oxamate anion. The constituent molecular ions of (I) form ribbons, where all amide and carboxylate groups are coplanar. Graph‐set analysis of the hydrogen‐bonded networks reveals the R²₂(10) and R²₂(9) homodromic nets as important structure‐directing motifs, which appear to be a common feature of many oxamate‐containing compounds.