Magnesium and Zinc Aminopyridinates: Structural and Hirshfeld Analyses

Rare examples of mononuclear magnesium and zinc bis(aminopyridinates) are isolated by reacting two equivalents of N-(2,4,6-triimethylphenyl)-[6-(2,4,6-triimethylphenyl)-pyridine-2-yl]-amine with MgnBu2 and ZnEt2, respectively. X-ray analysis reveals isostructural five coordinate [M(Ap)2(thf)] complexes (M = Mg or Zn). The two compounds crystallized in the monoclinic space group, C2/c with nearly identical cell parameters. Structural analyses show that the two aminopyridinato ligands adopt the common head to tail arrangement with anionic function localized at the amido nitrogen atom. The observed τ5 values of the two complexes indicate distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometries. Crystals packing shows identical C⋯H π-interactions. Hirshfeld surface analyses and the two-dimensional fingerprint plots indicate intermolecular H⋯H contacts and H⋯C/C⋯H π-interactions with nearly identical contributions.