Synthesis, crystal structure, magnetic behaviour and thermal stability of a paddle-wheel copper(II) complex bearing equatorial 3,4-diethoxybenzoate ligands.

The binuclear paddle-wheel copper(II) complex tetrakis(μ-3,4-diethoxybenzoato-κ 2 O:O')bis[(ethanol-κO)copper(II)], [Cu 2 (C 11 H 13 O 4 ) 4 (C 2 H 6 O) 2 ], has been synthesized and characterized. In each molecule, two Cu II centres are bridged in a syn-syn fashion by four equatorial 3,4-diethoxybenzoate ligands, the two axial positions being occupied by ethanol molecules. The thermal stability has been studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The magnetic behaviour, studied by SQUID magnetometry, shows a Cu II -Cu II antiferromagnetic exchange interaction with 2J = -288 cm -1 , a value that fits with a magnetic structure correlation established for compounds of this kind.