Crystal structure of trans-di-chlorido-(1,4,8,11-tetra-aza-cyclo-tetra-decane-κ4 N)chromium(III) bis-(form-amide-κO)(1,4,8,11-tetra-aza-cyclo-tetra-decane-κ4 N)chromium(III) bis-[tetra-chlorido-zincate(II)].

The structure of the title compound, [CrCl2(C10H24N4)][Cr(HCONH2)2(C10H24N4)][ZnCl4]2 (C10H24N4 = 1,4,8,11-tetra-aza-cyclo-tetra-decane, cyclam; HCONH2 = formamide, fa), has been determined from synchrotron X-ray data. The asymmetric unit contains two independent halves of the [CrCl2(cyclam)]+ and [Cr(fa)(cyclam)]3+ cations, and one tetra-chlorido-zincate anion. In each complex cation, the CrIII ion is coordinated by the four N atoms of the cyclam ligand in the equatorial plane and two Cl ligands or two O-bonded formamide mol-ecules in a trans axial arrangement, displaying a distorted octa-hedral geometry with crystallographic inversion symmetry. The Cr-N(cyclam) bond lengths are in the range 2.061 (2) to 2.074 (2) Å, while the Cr-Cl and Cr-O(fa) bond distances are 2.3194 (7) and 1.9953 (19) Å, respectively. The macrocyclic cyclam moieties adopt the centrosymmetric trans-III conformation with six- and five-membered chelate rings in chair and gauche conformations. The crystal structure is stabilized by inter-molecular hydrogen bonds involving the NH or CH groups of cyclam and the NH2 group of coordinated formamide as donors, and Cl atoms of the ZnCl4 2- anion as acceptors.