Bis{2-[bis-(2-hy-droxy-eth-yl)amino]-acetato-κO,N,O'}zinc(II).

In the crystal structure of the zinc(II) complex of bicine, [Zn(C(6)H(12)NO(4))(2)], the deprotonated amino acid O,N,O'-chelates to the metal atom through a carboxyl-ate O atom, a hy-droxy O atom and the N atom, the three atoms occupying fac positions of the distorted octa-hedron surrounding the metal atom. The metal atom lies on a center of inversion. The uncoordinated carboxyl-ate O atom is hydrogen bonded to the hy-droxy groups of adjacent mol-ecules, these two hydrogen bonds leading to the formation of a three-dimensional network.