Poly[Chlorido[Mu(4)-2,2 '-(2-Methyl-1h-Benzimidazol-3-Ium-1,3-Diyl) Diacetato]Zinc]

The title compound, [Zn(C12H11N2O4)Cl](n), contains a centro-symmetric dimetal tetracarboxylate paddle-wheel moiety in which the Zn-II atom is square-pyramidally coordinated by four carboxylate O atoms at the basal positions and one Cl anion at the apical position. Each paddle-wheel unit is joined to four such neighbours through bridging dicarboxylate ligands, producing a two-dimensional undulating layer parallel to ((1) over bar 01). Adjacent sheets are stacked in a parallel fashion to form a three-dimensional supramolecular structure which is stabilized by interlayer pi-pi interactions between benzene rings, with a centroid-centroid distance of 3.722 angstrom. The range of Zn-O bond lengths is 2.0440 (17)-2.1256 (15) angstrom and the Zn-Cl bond length is 2.2622 (6) angstrom.