Bis[N,N'-(2-chloro­benzyl­idene)­ethylene­diamine-[kappa]²N,N']copper(I) dichlorido­cuprate(I) acetonitrile solvate

The 1:1 adduct of N,N'-bis­(2-chloro­benzyl­idene)ethylene­diamine (cb₂en) with copper(I) chloride proves to be an ionic compound with Cu^I-centred cations and anions, [Cu(C₁₆H₁₄Cl₂N₂)₂][CuCl₂]·CH₃CN. In the cation, the Cu^I atom has a flattened tetra­hedral coordination geometry, with a small bite angle for the chelating ligands, which form a double-helical arrangement around the metal centre. The anion is almost linear, as expected. The packing of the cations involves inter­molecular [pi]-[pi] inter­actions, which lead to columns of translationally related cations along the shortest unit-cell axis, with anions and solvent mol­ecules in channels between them.