cis‐Bis(2,2′‐bipyridyl‐N,N′)dichlorosilicon diiodide

The crystal and molecular structure of the title compound, C₂₀H₁₆Cl₂N₄Si²⁺·2I^?, has been determined at 173 K. To our knowledge, this is the first crystal structure of a silicon tetrahalide complex with a bidentate base as a ligand. The two chloro ligands are cis relative to each other. The Si—N bonds trans to a chloro ligand are longer than the Si—N bonds trans to an Si—N bond. This feature is observed for the majority of M(bipy)₂Cl₂ (M = metal and bipy = 2,2′‐bipyridyl) complexes, but it does not hold for all structures retrieved from the Cambridge Structural Database. The two pyridyl rings of each bipyridyl unit are nearly coplanar, whereas the bipyridyl units are almost perpendicular to each other. The two I^? ions are more than 5 Å from the silicon centre. As a result, the compound can definitely be described as ionic. The crystal packing is stabilized by short C—H?I contacts.