A bis(amine-carboxylate) copper(II) coordination compound forms a two-dimensional metal-organic framework when crystallized from water and methanol.

When {2,2'-[(2-methyl-2-nitropropane-1,3-diyl)diimino]diacetato}copper(II), [Cu(C(8)H(13)N(3)O(6))], (I), was crystallized from a binary mixture of methanol and water, a monoclinic two-dimensional water- and methanol-solvated metal-organic framework (MOF) structure, distinctly different from the known orthorhombic one-dimensional coordination polymer of (I), was isolated, namely catena-poly[[copper(II)-mu(3)-2,2'-[(2-methyl-2-nitropropane-1,3-diyl)diimino]diacetato] methanol 0.45-solvate 0.55-hydrate], {[Cu(C(8)H(13)N(3)O(6))].0.45CH(3)OH.0.55H(2)O}(n), (II). The monoclinic structure of (II) comprises centrosymmetric dimers stabilized by a dative covalent Cu(2)O(2) core and intramolecular N-H...O hydrogen bonds. Each dimer is linked to four neighbouring dimers via symmetry-related (opposing) pairs of bridging carboxylate O atoms to generate a ;diamondoid' net or two-dimensional coordination network. Tight voids of 166 A(3) are located between these two-dimensional MOF sheets and contain a mixture of water and methanol with fractional occupancies of 0.55 and 0.45, respectively. The two-dimensional MOF sheets have nanometre-scale spacings (11.2 A) in the crystal structure. Hydrogen-bonding between the methanol/water hydroxy groups and a Cu-bound bridging carboxylate O atom apparently negates thermal desolvation of the structure below 358 K in an uncrushed crystal of (II).