Crystal structure of [bis­­(2-amino­ethyl-κN)(2-{[4-(tri­fluoro­meth­yl)benzyl­­idene]amino}­eth­yl)amine-κN]di­chlorido­copper(II)

The CuII atom in the title compound, [CuCl2(C14H21F3N4)], adopts a coordination geometry that is between distorted square-based pyramidal and very Jahn–Teller-elongated octahedral. It is coordinated by three N atoms from the bis(2-aminoethyl)(2-{[4-(trifluoromethyl)benzylidene]amino}ethyl)amine and two chloride ligands. The two crystallographically unique copper complexes present in the asymmetric unit exhibit noticeable differences in the coordination bond lengths. Considering the CuII atoms as having square-pyramidal geometry, the basal Cu—Cl bond lengths are typical [2.2701 (12) and 2.2777 (12) A˚ ], while the apical distances are considerably elongated [2.8505 (12) and 2.9415 (12) A˚ ]. For each molecule, a CuII atom from inversion-related molecules are in nearby proximity to the remaining axial CuII sites, but the CuCl distances are very long [3.4056 (12) and 3.1645 (12) A˚ ], attributable to van der Waals contacts. Nonetheless, these contacts appear to have some structure-directing properties, leading to association into dimers. These dimers associate via stacking of the aromatic rings to form extended zigzag chains.