Crystal structure of tri-hydrogen bis-{[1,1,1-tris-(2-oxido-ethyl-amino-meth-yl)ethane]-cobalt(III)} trinitrate.

The title compound, [Co2(L)2](3+)·3NO3 (-) [where L = CH3C(CH2NHCH2CH2OH1/2)3], has been synthesized from the ligand 1,1,1-tris-(2-hy-droxy-ethyl-amino-meth-yl)ethane. The cobalt(III) dimer has an inter-esting and uncommon O-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding motif with the three bridging hy-droxy H atoms each being equally disordered over two positions. In the dimeric trication, the octa-hedrally coordinated Co(III) atoms and the capping C atoms lie on a threefold rotation axis. The N atoms of two crystallographically independent nitrate anions also lie on threefold rotation axes. N-H⋯O hydrogen bonding between the complex cations and nitrate anions leads to the formation of a three-dimensional network structure. The compound is a racemic conglomerate of crystals containing either d or l mol-ecules. The crystal used for this study is a d crystal.