trans-Bis(aniline-κN)dichlorobis(ethanol-κO)cobalt(II)

Abstract

The title compound, [CoCl2(C6H7N)2(C2H6O)2], was obtained unintentionally as the product of an attempted synthesis of a polycarboxylate-bridged network complex of cobalt(II) using aniline as a base to deprotonate the organic acid. The molecule is centrosymmetric, so pairs of equivalent ligands lie trans to each other in a slightly distorted octahedral coordination geometry. Molecules are linked by O—H...Cl and N—H...Cl hydrogen bonds involving all the potential donors, generating sheets parallel to (001). The phenyl rings protrude on both sides of these sheets and have normal hydrophobic contacts with each other, involving no intercalation or stacking interactions.