Distorted tetrahedral complexes of copper(I) and copper(II) displaying N2S2 co-ordination. X-Ray crystal structure of [2-(2-pyridyl)ethyl]bis[2-(ethylthio)ethyl]aminecopper(I) tetraphenylborate

Reaction of the appropriate copper starting material with the new N2S2 ligand [2-(2-pyridyl)ethyl]bis[2-(ethylthio)ethyl]amine (pea)(A) which is constrained to pseudo-tetrahedral co-ordination, yields the CuI and CuII derivatives, [Cu(pea)]+ and [Cu(pea)]2+; the CuII species shows low energy d–d absorption bands suggesting a distorted co-ordination geometry and the X-ray structure of the CuI derivative confirms a pseudotetrahedral co-ordination environment.