Tetra­nuclear copper(II) complex of 2-hydroxy-N,N′-bis­[1-(2-hy­droxy­phen­yl)ethyl­idene]­propane-1,3-di­amine

The title mol­ecular structure, namely, (μ(3)-acetato)(μ(2)-acetato)­bis­(μ(3)-1,3-bis­{[1-(2-oxidophen­yl)ethyl­idene]amino}­propan-2-olato)tetra­copper(II) monohydrate, [Cu(4)(C(19)H(19)N(2)O(3))(2)(CH(3)CO(2))(2)]·H(2)O, corresponds to a non-symmetric tetra­nuclear copper complex. The complex exhibits one ligand mol­ecule that connects two copper Cu(II) metal centres via its ethano­lato oxygen anion acting in a μ(2)-mode and one ligand mol­ecule that connects three copper Cu(II) metal centres via its ethano­lato oxygen anion acting in a μ(3)-mode. One bridging acetate group acting in an η(1):η(1)-μ(2)-mode connects two copper(II) ions while another bridging acetate group connects three copper(II) ions in an η(1):-η(2)-μ(3)-mode. A chair-like Cu(3)O(3) structure is generated in which the two CuO(4)N units are connected by one μ(2)-O ethano­late oxygen atom. These two units are connected respectively to the CuO(3)N unit via one μ(3)-O ethano­late oxygen atom and one μ(2)-O atom from an acetate group. The μ(3)-O atom also connects one of the CuO(4)N units and the CuO(3)N unit to another CuO(3)N unit, which is out of the chair-like structure. Each of the two penta­coordinated Cu(II) cations has a distorted NO(4) square-pyramidal environment. The geometry of each of the two CuNO(3) units is best described as a slightly square-planar environment. A series of intra­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds is observed. In the crystal, the units are connected by inter­molecular C—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, thus forming sheets parallel to the ac plane