Investigation into the crystal structure of bis(pyridine)-bis(trichloroacetato) copper(II) and its electrophotochemical properties

A novel chained Cu(II) complex was synthesized from trichloroacetato copper(II) and pyridine in ethanol solvent, and characterized by elemental analysis and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The special crystal structure of the Cu(II) complex was determined by X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The results indicate that a chained structure of the Cu(II) complex formed through intermolecular hydrogen bonds. Cu(CCl3COO)2(C5H5N)2(H2O) was monoclinic, with unit cell P21/c and cell parameters as follows: a = 14.389(3) Å, b = 7.1911(14) Å, c = 23.107(8) Å, V = 2,257.5(10) Å3, Z = 4, Mr = 564.51, Dc = 1.661 mg/m3, T = 293(2) K, F(000) = 1,124, μ(Mo Kα) = 1.704 mm−1, R = 0.0984, and ωR = 0.2791. The electrochemical behavior of the Cu(II) complex on a glassy carbon working electrode determined by cyclic voltammetry showed the electrochemical activity of the title compound at 0.2 to −0.3 V (versus SCE) in NH3–NH4Cl buffer solution (pH 9.2), and the redox peak current of the complex had a good linear relationship with the square root of the scan rate in the range 0.02–0.2 V/s.