Crystal structure of a chloride-bridged copper(II) dimer: piperazine-1,4-dium bis-(di-μ-chlorido-bis[(4-carboxypyridine-2-carboxyl-ato-κ(2)N,O(2))chlorido-cuprate(II)].

Crystals of a new dimeric chloride-bridged cuprate(II) derived from pyridine-2,4-di-carb-oxy-lic acid were obtained solvothermally in the presence of piperazine and hydro-chloric acid. The crystal structure determination of the title salt, (C4H12N2)[Cu2(C7H4NO4)2Cl4], revealed one of the carboxyl groups of the original pyridine-2,4-di-carb-oxy-lic acid ligand to be protonated, whereas the other is deprotonated and binds together with the pyridine N atom to the Cu(II) atom. The coordination environment of the Cu(II) atom is distorted square-pyramidal. One of the chloride ligands bridges two metal cations to form a centrosymmetric dimer with two different Cu-Cl distances of 2.2632 (8) and 2.7853 (8) Å, whereby the longer distance is associated with the apical ligand. The remaining chloride ligand is terminal at one of the basal positions, with a distance of 2.2272 (9) Å. In the crystal, the dimers are linked by inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, together with N-H⋯O and N-H⋯Cl inter-actions involving the centrosymmetric organic cation, into a three-dimensional supra-molecular network. Further but weaker C-H⋯O and C-H⋯Cl inter-actions consolidate the packing.