{6,6'-Diethoxy-2,2'-[4,5-dimethyl-o-phenylenebis(nitrilomethylidyne)]di-phenolato}nickel(II) dihydrate

In the title complex, [Ni(C(26)H(26)N(2)O(4))]·2H(2)O, the Ni(II) ion, lying on a twofold crystallographic rotation axis, has a square-planar geometry, being coordinated by the N(2)O(2) unit of the tetra-dentate Schiff base ligand. The asymmetric unit of the title compound comprises one-half of the complex mol-ecule and one of the water mol-ecules of crystallization. The water H atoms form bifurcated O-H⋯(O,O) hydrogen bonds with the O atoms of the phenolato and eth-oxy groups with R(1) (2)(5) and R(1) (2)(6) ring motifs. The dihedral angle between the central benzene ring and the two outer benzene rings are 4.07 (11) and 3.99 (12)°. The dihedral angle between the two O-Ni-N coordination planes is only 0.77 (11)°. In the crystal structure, the mol-ecules are linked together into extended chains along the c axis by inter-molecular O-H⋯O and C-H⋯O inter-actions. An inter-esting feature of the crystal structure is a short inter-molecular C ⋯ C [3.355 (3) Å] contact, which is shorter than the sum of the van der Waals radii. The crystal structure may be further stabilized by inter-molecular π-π inter-actions [centroid-centroid distances in the range 3.5758 (13)-3.6337 (13) Å].