In the title complex, chlorido-tetra-kis-(1H-imidazole-κN (3))cobalt(II) chloride, [CoCl(C3H4N2)4]Cl, the Co(II) cation has a distorted square-pyramidal coordination environment. It is coordinated by four N atoms of four imidazole (Im) groups in the basal plane, and by a Cl atom in the apical position. It is isostructural with [Cu(Im)4Cl]Cl [Morzyk-Ociepa et al. (2012 ▸). J. Mol. Struct. 1028, 49-56] and [Cu(Im)4Br]Br [Hossaini Sadr et al. (2004 ▸). Acta Cryst. E60, m1324-m1326]. In the crystal, the [CoCl(C3H4N2)4](+) cations and Cl(-) anions are linked via N-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds, forming layers parallel to (010). These layers are linked via C-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds and C-H⋯π and π-π [inter-centroid distance = 3.794 (2) Å] inter-actions, forming a three-dimensional framework. The IR spectrum shows vibrational bands typical for imidazol groups. The monoclinic unit cell of the title compound emulates an ortho-rhom-bic cell as its β angle is close to 90°. The crystal is twinned, with the refined ratio of twin components being 0.569 (1):0.431 (1).
Keywords: cobalt complex; crystal structure; framework; hydrogen bonding; imidazole.