Two novel bis(2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline)copper(I) complexes: [Cu(dmp)2]2(PF6)2.0.5(bpmh).CH3CN and [Cu(dmp)2][N(CN)2].

Two new salts of the cation [CuI(dmp)2]+ (dmp is 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline, C14H12N2), namely bis[bis(2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline-kappa2N,N')copper(I)] bis(hexafluorophosphate) hemi[bis(4-pyridylmethylidene)hydrazine] acetonitrile solvate, [Cu(C14H12N2)2]2(PF6)2.0.5C12H10N4.C2H3N or [Cu(dmp)2]2(PF6)2.0.5(bpmh).CH3CN [bpmh is bis(4-pyridylmethylidene)hydrazine, C12H10N4], (I), and bis(2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline-2N,N')copper(I) dicyanamide, [Cu(C14H12N2)2](C2N3) or [Cu(dmp)2][N(CN)2], (II), are reported. The Cu-N bond lengths and the distortion from idealized tetrahedral geometry of the dmp ligands are discussed and compared with related compounds. The bpmh molecule in (I) is pi-pi stacked with a dmp ligand at a distance of 3.4 A, rather than coordinated to the metal atom. The molecule lies across an inversion center in the crystal. In (II), the normally coordinated dicyanamide molecule is present as an uncoordinated counter-ion.