Molecular structure of the dimeric complex of copper (II) chloride with triphenyl-N-[6-methylpyridyl-2]phosphinimine

The complex of copper(II) dichloride with triphenyl-N-(6-methylpyridyl-2)phosphinimine has been studied by X-ray diffraction. This compound has a dimeric structure with two ₂-bridge chlorine atoms. The coordination of copper atoms by three chlorine atoms and the N atom of the heterocycle is of a strongly distorted planar-square type. A peculiar feature of this structure is the presence of intramolecular contacts Cu...N (2.504 Å and 2.492 Å) involving the imine nitrogens of the P,N-containing ligands which are responsible for strong additional coordination of the copper atoms. In methanol the P,N-containing ligand forms a complex with Cu(II) where the metal-to-ligand ratio is equal to 12. The ESR data point to the bidentate nature of the ligand in solution, where all four nitrogen atoms, contributed by both of the ligands, are located in the plane of the metal atom.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 2, pp. 337–341, February, 1993.