The mono-, di-or poly-nuclear copper(II)-oxalate complexes [Cu(phen)(ox)(H 2 O)]·H 2 O (1), {[Cu(µ-ox)(bpy)]·H 2 O· 1/2EtOH} n (2), {[Cu(µ-ox)(bpy)]·2H 2 O} n (3), [{Cu(NO 3 )(bpy)-(H 2 O)} 2 (µ-ox)] (4) and [{Cu(NO 3 )(phen)(H 2 O)} 2 (µ-ox)] (5) (ox ϭ oxalato, phen ϭ 1,10-phenanthroline y bpy ϭ 2,2Ј-bipyridine) were prepared by reacting Cu 2 CO 3 (OH) 2 ·2H 2 O or Cu(NO 3 ) 2 ·3H 2 O salts with glycolic (H 2 GLYO) or lactic (H 2 LACO) acids or D-gluconic acid δ-lactone (δ-gluconolactone, H 2 δ-Glc) in presence of diimine ancillary ligands. Their crystal structures are reported. The copper(II) atom exhibits a 4ϩ1 five-coordinate CuN 2 O 2 OЈ environment in 1, a 4ϩ2 elongated rhombic octahedral CuN 2 O 2 OЈ 2 stereochemistry in 2 or 3, and a 4ϩ1ϩ1 tetragonally elongated octahedral Cu 2 N 2 O 2 OЈOЉ surrounding in 4 or 5. The ligand arrangement and * Prof. Dr. A. Castiñ eiras 717 the packing of 5 seem to be strongly influenced by intra-and intermolecular hydrogen bonding as well as π,π-stacking interactions between C 6 -rings from adjacent phen ligands. The most striking feature now reported is the Cu II -mediated oxidation of GLYO 2Ϫ , LACO 2Ϫ or δ-Glc 2Ϫ leading to the formation of corresponding Cu II -oxalate derivatives. For the glycolate case a mechanism involving a cleavage of the α-C-H bonds is proposed, whereas for lactate or D-gluconate related systems an oxidative degradation through C-C bond cleavage are assumed.