How Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies Can Help Understanding the Magnetic Properties of Molecules: An Example from the Class of Cu(II)−Bis(oxamato) Complexes

Crystal structure of an unknown solvate of bis-(tetra-n-butyl-ammonium) [N,N'-(4-tri-fluoro-methyl-1,2-phenyl-ene)bis-(oxamato)-κ(4) O,N,N',O']nickelate(II)

In the title compound, [N(C4H9)4]2[Ni(C11H3F3N2O6)] or [N(n-Bu)4]2[Ni(topbo)] [n-Bu = n-butyl and topbo = 4-tri-fluoro-methyl-1,2-phenyl-enebis(oxamate)], the Ni(2+) cation is coordinated by two deprotonated amido N atoms and two carboxyl-ate O atoms, setting up a slightly distorted square-planar coordination environment. The [Ni(topbo](2-) anion lies on a twofold rotation axis. Due to an incompatibility with the point-group symmetry of the complete mol-ecule, orientational disorder of the CF3 group is observed. The tetra-hedral ammonium cations and the anion are linked by weak inter-molecular C-H⋯O and C-H⋯F hydrogen-bonding inter-actions into a three-dimensional network. A region of electron density was treated with the SQUEEZE procedure in PLATON [Spek (2015). Acta Cryst. C71, 9-18] following unsuccessful attempts to model it as plausible solvent mol-ecule(s). The given chemical formula and other crystal data do not take into account the unknown solvent mol-ecule.