Distorted zinc coordination polyhedra in bis­(1-eth­oxy-2-{[(2-meth­oxy­eth­yl)imino]­meth­yl}propan-1-olato)zinc, a possible CVD precursor for zinc oxide thin films

A new metal–organic precursor for the chemical vapor deposition of zinc oxide thin films, [Zn(C(9)H(16)NO(3))(2)], has been synthesized and characterized by (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. The asymmetric unit of the title compound consists of two mol­ecules (Z′ = 2), with different zinc coordination polyhedra. In one mol­ecule, the metal atom is in a distorted trigonal–bipyramidal ZnN(2)O(3) environment (τ(5) = 0.192) with a long bond to an ether O donor atom [Zn—O = 2.727 (6) Å]. In the other, the Zn atom is in a distorted ZnN(2)O(4) octa­hedral environment with long bonds to the ether O donors of both ligands [Zn—O = 2.514 (4) and 2.661 (4) Å; O—Zn—O = 82.46 (14)°]. The crystal structure features weak C—H⋯·O inter­actions.