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

The title mol-ecular structure, namely, (μ-acetato)(μ-acetato)-bis-(μ-1,3-bis-{[1-(2-oxidophen-yl)ethyl-idene]amino}-propan-2-olato)tetra-copper(II) monohydrate, [Cu(CHNO)(CHCO)]·HO, corresponds to a non-symmetric tetra-nuclear copper complex. The complex exhibits one ligand mol-ecule that connects two copper Cu metal centres its ethano-lato oxygen anion acting in a μ-mode and one ligand mol-ecule that connects three copper Cu metal centres its ethano-lato oxygen anion acting in a μ-mode. One bridging acetate group acting in an η:η-μ-mode connects two copper(II) ions while another bridging acetate group connects three copper(II) ions in an η:-η-μ-mode. A chair-like CuO structure is generated in which the two CuON units are connected by one μ-O ethano-late oxygen atom. These two units are connected respectively to the CuON unit one μ-O ethano-late oxygen atom and one μ-O atom from an acetate group. The μ-O atom also connects one of the CuON units and the CuON unit to another CuON unit, which is out of the chair-like structure. Each of the two penta-coordinated Cu cations has a distorted NO square-pyramidal environment. The geometry of each of the two CuNO 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 plane.