Crystal structure of tetra-kis-(μ-caproato-κ(2) O:O')bis-[(4-cyano-pyridine-κN (1))copper(II)].

The title dinuclear complex, [Cu2(C6H11O2)4(C6H4N2)2], has a paddle-wheel structure. The two crystallographically independent Cu(II) atoms are each in a distorted square-pyramidal environment, in which four O atoms from the four bridging caproate ligands form the basal plane and the pyridine N atom of the 4-cyano-pyridine ligand occupies the apical position. The Cu⋯Cu distance is 2.6055 (9) Å. One of the alkyl chains of the caproate ligands is disordered over two sets of sites, with occupancies of 0.725 (5) and 0.275 (5). In the crystal, two pairs of C-H⋯N hydrogen bonds connect the mol-ecules into chains along [11-1] and C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the chains into a three-dimensional network.