Hydrothermal synthesis.: Crystal structures and effect of non bonding interactions in crystal packing of two mixed-ligand metal complexes with glycolato and 2,2'-dipiridylamine and with benzilato and imidazole

Two new mixed-ligand complexes [Fe(HG)(2)(dipyam)] (1) (HG = glycolato and dipyam = 2,2'-dipyridylamine) and [Cu(HB)(2)(im)(2)](.)2H(2)O (2) (HB = benzilato and im = imidazole) have been hydrothermally synthesized and structurally characterised by X-ray diffraction. In both cases the metallic centre is in an octahedral environment, strongly distorted in 2 (4+2 coordination). The alpha-hydroxycarboxylato ligands (glycolato or benzilato) present different coordinative behaviour, bidentade chelate through the hydroxyl oxygen and one carboxy oxygen in 1 and through the two oxygen atoms of the carboxylate group in 2. The complexes are extended into 2D frameworks through hydrogen bonding and pi (...) pi or C-H (...) pi interactions. The complexes were also characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR and UV-vis spectroscopy and room temperature magnetic measurements.