The dinuclear copper(II) complexes di-mu-chlorido-bis{[N,N'-bis(4-chlorobenzyl)propane-1,2-diamine]chloridocopper(II)} and di-mu-chlorido-bis{[N,N'-bis(3,4-methylenedioxybenzyl)propane-1,2-diamine]chloridocopper(II)}.

The two title dinuclear copper(II) complexes, [Cu2Cl4(C17H20Cl2N2)2], (I), and [Cu2Cl4(C19H22N2O4)2], (II), have similar coordination environments. In each complex, the asymmetric unit consists of one half-molecule and the two copper centres are bridged by a pair of Cl atoms, resulting in complexes with centrosymmetric structures containing Cu(mu-Cl)2Cu parallelogram cores; the Cu...Cu separations and Cu-Cl-Cu angles are 3.4285 (8) A and 83.36 (3) degrees, respectively, for (I), and 3.565 (2) A and 84.39 (7) degrees for (II). Each Cu atom is five-coordinated and the coordination geometry around the Cu atom is best described as a distorted square-pyramid with a tau value of 0.155 (3) for (I) and 0.092 (7) for (II). The apical Cu-Cl bond length is 2.852 (1) A for (I) and 2.971 (2) A for (II). The basal Cu-Cl and Cu-N average bonds lengths are 2.2673 (9) and 2.030 (2) A, respectively, for (I), and 2.280 (2) and 2.038 (6) A for (II). The molecules of (I) are linked by one C-H...Cl hydrogen bond into a complex [10 1] sheet. The molecules of (II) are linked by one C-H...Cl and one N-H...O hydrogen bond into a complex [100] sheet.