Synthesis, crystal structure and thermal properties of bis-(aceto-nitrile-κ)bis-(3-bromo-pyridine-κ)bis-(thio-cyanato-κ)cobalt(II).

Single crystals of the title compound, [Co(NCS)(CHBrN)(CHN)], were obtained by the reaction of Co(NCS) with 3-bromo-pyridine in aceto-nitrile. The Co cations lie on crystallographic inversion centers and are coordinated by two N-bonded thio-cyanate anions, two 3-bromo-pyridine and two aceto-nitrile ligands thereby forming slightly distorted CoN octa-hedra. In the crystal, these complexes are linked by C-H⋯S and C-H⋯N hydrogen bonds into a three-dimensional network. In the direction of the crystallographic -axis, the complexes are arranged into columns with neighboring 3-bromo-pyridine ligands stacked onto each other, indicating π-π inter-actions. The CN stretching vibration of the thio-cyanate anions is observed at 2066 cm, in agreement with the presence of only N-bonded anionic ligands. TG-DTA measurements reveal that in the first mass loss the aceto-nitrile ligands are removed and that in the second step, half of a 3-bromo-pyridine ligand is lost, leading to the formation of a polymeric compound with the composition [(Co(NCS))(CHBrN)] already reported in the literature.