Bis[bis(N-2-hydroxyethyl,N-isopropyl-dithiocarbamato)mercury(II)]2: crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis

The presence of both κ2-chelating and μ2,κ2-tridentate bridging dithiocarbamate ligands in centrosymmetric {Hg[S2CN(iPr)CH2CH2OH]2}2 (1) leads to globular aggregates that are linked into a three-dimensional architecture via hydroxyl-O–H···O(hydroxy) hydrogen bonding. The structure contrasts that of Hg[S2CN(CH2CH2OH)2]2 (2; this is a literature structure) in which square planar units are connected into supramolecular chains via Hg···S secondary bonding; chains are connected in the crystal structure by hydroxyl-O–H···O(hydroxy) hydrogen bonding. A Hirshfeld surface analysis on 1 and 2 reveal the influence of O–H···O and Hg···S interactions on the molecular packing as well as the distinctive interactions, such as C–H···S interactions in 1 and C–H···π (HgS2C) contacts in 2. A bibliographic survey shows the different structural motifs observed for 1 and 2 are complimented by an additional five motifs for binary mercury(II) dithiocarbamates revealing a fascinating structural diversity for this class of compound.