Tetra-nuclear copper(II) complex of 2-hydroxy-N,N'-bis-[1-(2-hy-droxy-phen-yl)ethyl-idene]-propane-1,3-di-amine.

The title mol-ecular structure, namely, (μ(3)-acetato)(μ(2)-acetato)-bis-(μ(3)-1,3-bis-{[1-(2-oxidophen-yl)ethyl-idene]amino}-propan-2-olato)tetra-copper(II) monohydrate, [Cu(4)(C(19)H(19)N(2)O(3))(2)(CH(3)CO(2))(2)]·H(2)O, corresponds to a non-symmetric tetra-nuclear copper complex. The complex exhibits one ligand mol-ecule that connects two copper Cu(II) metal centres via its ethano-lato oxygen anion acting in a μ(2)-mode and one ligand mol-ecule that connects three copper Cu(II) metal centres via its ethano-lato oxygen anion acting in a μ(3)-mode. One bridging acetate group acting in an η(1):η(1)-μ(2)-mode connects two copper(II) ions while another bridging acetate group connects three copper(II) ions in an η(1):-η(2)-μ(3)-mode. A chair-like Cu(3)O(3) structure is generated in which the two CuO(4)N units are connected by one μ(2)-O ethano-late oxygen atom. These two units are connected respectively to the CuO(3)N unit via one μ(3)-O ethano-late oxygen atom and one μ(2)-O atom from an acetate group. The μ(3)-O atom also connects one of the CuO(4)N units and the CuO(3)N unit to another CuO(3)N unit, which is out of the chair-like structure. Each of the two penta-coordinated Cu(II) cations has a distorted NO(4) square-pyramidal environment. The geometry of each of the two CuNO(3) units is best described as a slightly square-planar environment. A series of intra-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds is observed. In the crystal, the units are connected by inter-molecular C-H⋯O and O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, thus forming sheets parallel to the ac plane.