Crystal structure and electrochemical properties of [Ni(bztmpen)(CH(3)CN)](BF(4))(2) {bztmpen is N-benzyl-N,N',N'-tris-[(6-methyl-pyridin-2-yl)meth-yl]ethane-1,2-di-amine}.

The mononuclear nickel title complex (acetonitrile-κN){N-benzyl-N,N',N'-tris-[(6-methyl-pyridin-2-yl)meth-yl]ethane-1,2-di-amine}-nickel(II) bis-(tetra-fluor-ido-borate), [Ni(C(30)H(35)N(5))(CH(3)CN)](BF(4))(2), was prepared from the reaction of Ni(BF(4))(2)·6H(2)O with N-benzyl-N,N',N'-tris-[(6-methyl-pyridin-2-yl)meth-yl]ethane-1,2-di-amine (bztmpen) in aceto-nitrile at room temperature. With an open site occupied by the aceto-nitrile mol-ecule, the nickel(II) atom is chelated by five N-atom sites from the ligand and one N atom from the ligand, showing an overall octa-hedral coordination environment. Compared with analogues where the 6-methyl substituent is absent, the bond length around the Ni(2+) cation are evidently longer. Upon reductive dissociation of the acetro-nitrile mol-ecule, the title complex has an open site for a catalytic reaction. The title complex has two redox couples at -1.50 and -1.80†V (versus F(c)(+/0)) based on nickel. The F atoms of the two BF(4)(-) counter-anions are split into two groups and the occupancy ratios refined to 0.611†(18):0.389†(18) and 0.71†(2):0.29†(2).