The Cu(II) atom in the title compound, [CuCl2(C14H21F3N4)], adopts a coordination geometry that is between distorted square-based pyramidal and very Jahn-Teller-elongated octa-hedral. It is coordinated by three N atoms from the bis-(2-amino-eth-yl)(2-{[4-(tri-fluoro-meth-yl)benzyl-idene]amino}-eth-yl)amine and two chloride ligands. The two crystallographically unique copper complexes present in the asymmetric unit exhibit noticeable differences in the coordination bond lengths. Considering the Cu(II) atoms as having square-pyramidal geometry, the basal Cu-Cl bond lengths are typical [2.2701 (12) and 2.2777 (12) Å], while the apical distances are considerably elongated [2.8505 (12) and 2.9415 (12) Å]. For each mol-ecule, a Cu(II) atom from inversion-related mol-ecules are in nearby proximity to the remaining axial Cu(II) sites, but the Cu⋯Cl distances are very long [3.4056 (12) and 3.1645 (12) Å], attributable to van der Waals contacts. Nonetheless, these contacts appear to have some structure-directing properties, leading to association into dimers. These dimers associate via stacking of the aromatic rings to form extended zigzag chains.
Keywords: crystal structure; four-coordinate copper(II) complex; ligand disorder; trifluoromethyl group analogue.