A combined experimental and theoretical study of the supramolecular self-assembly of Cu(II) malonate complex assisted by various weak forces and water dimer

A Cu(II) malonate complex with formula [Cu(C3H2O4)(C6H8N2)(H2O)]2·4H2O (1) [C6H8N2=2-picolylamine, C3H2O42−=malonate dianion] has been synthesized by mixing the reactants in their stoichiometric proportion and its crystal structure has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In 1, monomeric neutral metal malonate units [Cu(C3H2O4)(C6H8N2)(H2O)] are interlinked with each other through hydrogen bonds, weak lone pair⋯π and cuprophilic interactions to generate supramolecular dimers, which in turn further associated through hydrogen bonding to form infinite 1D chains. Water dimers, through series of hydrogen bonds and weak π–stacking forces are found to be responsible for interconnection of 1D chains, which resulted in a 3D network. A density functional (DFT) study of the energetic features of several noncovalent interactions observed in the solid state have been analyzed and characterized using Bader׳s theory of “atoms-in-molecules”. We also present here Hirshfeld surface analysis to investigate the close intermolecular contacts.