A quantum crystallographic approach to short hydrogen bonds.

In this work we use high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction for electron density mapping, in conjunction with ab initio modelling, to study short O-H⋯O and O+-H⋯O- hydrogen bonds whose behaviour is known to be tuneable by temperature. The short hydrogen bonds have donor-acceptor distances in the region of 2.45 Šand are formed in substituted urea and organic acid molecular complexes of N,N'-dimethylurea oxalic acid 2 : 1 (1), N,N-dimethylurea 2,4-dinitrobenzoate 1 : 1 (2) and N,N-dimethylurea 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid 2 : 2 (3). From the combined analyses, these complexes are found to fall within the salt-cocrystal continuum and exhibit short hydrogen bonds that can be characterised as both strong and electrostatic (1, 3) or very strong with a significant covalent contribution (2). An additional charge assisted component is found to be important in distinguishing the relatively uncommon O-H⋯O pseudo-covalent interaction from a typical strong hydrogen bond. The electron density is found to be sensitive to the extent of static proton transfer, presenting it as a useful parameter in the study of the salt-cocrystal continuum. From complementary calculated hydrogen atom potentials, we attribute changes in proton position to the molecular environment. Calculated potentials also show zero barrier to proton migration, forming an 'energy slide' between the donor and acceptor atoms. The better fundamental understanding of the short hydrogen bond in the 'zone of fluctuation' presented in a salt-cocrystal continuum, enabled by studies like this, provide greater insight into their related properties and can have implications in the regulation of pharmaceutical materials.

Multifunctionality in an Ion-Exchanged Porous Metal-Organic Framework.

Porous robust materials are typically the primary selection of several industrial processes. Many of these compounds are, however, not robust enough to be used as multifunctional materials. This is typically the case of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) which rarely combine several different excellent functionalities into the same material. In this report we describe the simple acid-base postsynthetic modification of isotypical porous rare-earth-phosphonate MOFs into a truly multifunctional system, maintaining the original porosity features: [Ln(H3pptd)]·xSolvent [where Ln3+ = Y3+ (1) and (Y0.95Eu0.05)3+ (1_Eu)] are converted into [K3Ln(pptd)]·zSolvent [where Ln3+ = Y3+ (1K) and (Y0.95Eu0.05)3+ (1K_Eu)] by immersing the powder of 1 and 1_Eu into an ethanolic solution of KOH for 48 h. The K+-exchanged Eu3+-based material exhibits a considerable boost in CO2 adsorption, capable of being reused for several consecutive cycles. It can further separate C2H2 from CO2 from a complex ternary gas mixture composed of CH4, CO2, and C2H2. This high adsorption selectivity is, additionally, observed for other gaseous mixtures, such as C3H6 and C3H8, with all these results being supported by detailed theoretical calculations. The incorporation of K+ ions notably increases the electrical conductivity by 4 orders of magnitude in high relative humidity conditions. The conductivity is assumed to be predominantly protonic in nature, rendering this material as one of the best conducting MOFs reported to date.

Porous Metal-Organic Polyhedra: Morphology, Porosity, and Guest Binding.

Designing porous materials which can selectively adsorb CO2 or CH4 is an important environmental and industrial goal which requires an understanding of the host-guest interactions involved at the atomic scale. Metal-organic polyhedra (MOPs) showing permanent porosity upon desolvation are rarely observed. We report a family of MOPs (Cu-1a, Cu-1b, Cu-2), which derive their permanent porosity from cavities between packed cages rather than from within the polyhedra. Thus, for Cu-1a, the void fraction outside the cages totals 56% with only 2% within. The relative stabilities of these MOP structures are rationalized by considering their weak nondirectional packing interactions using Hirshfeld surface analyses. The exceptional stability of Cu-1a enables a detailed structural investigation into the adsorption of CO2 and CH4 using in situ X-ray and neutron diffraction, coupled with DFT calculations. The primary binding sites for adsorbed CO2 and CH4 in Cu-1a are found to be the open metal sites and pockets defined by the faces of phenyl rings. More importantly, the structural analysis of a hydrated sample of Cu-1a reveals a strong hydrogen bond between the adsorbed CO2 molecule and the Cu(II)-bound water molecule, shedding light on previous empirical and theoretical observations that partial hydration of metal-organic framework (MOF) materials containing open metal sites increases their uptake of CO2. The results of the crystallographic study on MOP-gas binding have been rationalized using DFT calculations, yielding individual binding energies for the various pore environments of Cu-1a.

Tailoring porosity and rotational dynamics in a series of octacarboxylate metal-organic frameworks.

Modulation and precise control of porosity of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is of critical importance to their materials function. Here we report modulation of porosity for a series of isoreticular octacarboxylate MOFs, denoted MFM-180 to MFM-185, via a strategy of selective elongation of metal-organic cages. Owing to the high ligand connectivity, these MOFs do not show interpenetration, and are robust structures that have permanent porosity. Interestingly, activated MFM-185a shows a high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 4,734 m2 g-1 for an octacarboxylate MOF. These MOFs show remarkable CH4 and CO2 adsorption properties, notably with simultaneously high gravimetric and volumetric deliverable CH4 capacities of 0.24 g g-1 and 163 vol/vol (298 K, 5-65 bar) recorded for MFM-185a due to selective elongation of tubular cages. The dynamics of molecular rotors in deuterated MFM-180a-d16 and MFM-181a-d16 were investigated by variable-temperature 2H solid-state NMR spectroscopy to reveal the reorientation mechanisms within these materials. Analysis of the flipping modes of the mobile phenyl groups, their rotational rates, and transition temperatures paves the way to controlling and understanding the role of molecular rotors through design of organic linkers within porous MOF materials.

Mixed-linker approach in designing porous zirconium-based metal-organic frameworks with high hydrogen storage capacity.

Three highly porous Zr(iv)-based metal-organic frameworks, UBMOF-8, UBMOF-9, and UBMOF-31, were synthesized by using 2,2'-diamino-4,4'-stilbenedicarboxylic acid, 4,4'-stilbenedicarboxylic acid, and combination of both linkers, respectively. The mixed-linker UBMOF-31 showed excellent hydrogen uptake of 4.9 wt% and high selectivity for adsorption of CO2 over N2 with high thermal stability and moderate water stability with permanent porosity and surface area of 2552 m(2) g(-1).

Facilities for small-molecule crystallography at synchrotron sources.

Although macromolecular crystallography is a widely supported technique at synchrotron radiation facilities throughout the world, there are, in comparison, only very few beamlines dedicated to small-molecule crystallography. This limited provision is despite the increasing demand for beamtime from the chemical crystallography community and the ever greater overlap between systems that can be classed as either small macromolecules or large small molecules. In this article, a very brief overview of beamlines that support small-molecule single-crystal diffraction techniques will be given along with a more detailed description of beamline I19, a dedicated facility for small-molecule crystallography at Diamond Light Source.

Incorporation by coordination and release of the iron chelator drug deferiprone from zinc-based metal-organic frameworks.

A series of new zinc-based metal-organic framework materials has been prepared in which deferiprone is incorporated as a chelating ligand on infinite or tri-zinc secondary building units following deprotonation. Deferiprone is immediately released from the MOFs on treatments with 1 N hydrochloric acid or buffer, but slow release is observed in ethanoic acid.

DetOx: a program for determining anomalous scattering factors of mixed-oxidation-state species.

Overlapping absorption edges will occur when an element is present in multiple oxidation states within a material. DetOx is a program for partitioning overlapping X-ray absorption spectra into contributions from individual atomic species and computing the dependence of the anomalous scattering factors on X-ray energy. It is demonstrated how these results can be used in combination with X-ray diffraction data to determine the oxidation state of ions at specific sites in a mixed-valance material, GaCl(2).

I19, the small-molecule single-crystal diffraction beamline at Diamond Light Source.

The dedicated small-molecule single-crystal X-ray diffraction beamline (I19) at Diamond Light Source has been operational and supporting users for over three years. I19 is a high-flux tunable-wavelength beamline and its key details are described in this article. Much of the work performed on the beamline involves structure determination from small and weakly diffracting crystals. Other experiments that have been supported to date include structural studies at high pressure, studies of metastable species, variable-temperature crystallography, studies involving gas exchange in porous materials and structural characterizations that require analysis of the diffuse scattering between Bragg reflections. A range of sample environments to facilitate crystallographic studies under non-ambient conditions are available as well as a number of options for automation. An indication of the scope of the science carried out on the beamline is provided by the range of highlights selected for this paper.

High-nuclearity metal-organic nanospheres: a Cd66 ball.

Reaction of H(3)L with Cd(NO(3))(2)·4H(2)O in DMF at 150 °C for 3 days affords the metal-organic nanosphere [Cd(66)(µ(3)-OH)(28)(µ(3)-O)(16)(µ(5)-NO(3)-O,O,O',O',O″,O″)(12)(L)(20)(µ(2)-DMF)(12)⊂(DMF)(9)]. The cluster is composed of a spherical shell of 66 Cd(II) cations bridged by 28 µ(3)-hydroxide, 16 µ(3)-oxo, and five µ(5)-NO(3)(-) anions surrounded by a shell of 20 tripodal capping ligands (L) and 12 DMF ligands. The 66 Cd(II) cations and 12 NO(3)(-) anions form a polydeltahedron that has 78 vertices [Cd(II) or NO(3)(-)] (V), 228 edges (E), and 152 triangular faces (F), giving it an Euler characteristic (χ) of 2 (χ = V + F - E). Reaction of H(3)L with Cd(NO(3))(2)·4H(2)O at lower temperatures or with CdCl(2) affords coordination polymer frameworks instead of nanospheres.

A perylene diimide rotaxane: synthesis, structure and electrochemically driven de-threading.

The first example of a [2]-rotaxane in which a perylene diimide acts as a recognition site has been synthesised and characterised. The interlocked nature of the compound has been verified by both NMR studies and an X-ray structure determination. Electrochemical investigations confirm that the nature of the redox processes associated with the perylene diimide are modified by the complexation process and that it is possible to mono-reduce the [2]-rotaxane to give a radical anion based rotaxane. Further reduction of the compound leads to de-threading of the macrocycle from the reduced PTCDI recognition site. Our synthetic strategies confirm the potential of PTCDI-based rotaxanes as viable targets for the preparation of complex interlocked species.

Chemical control of spin propagation between heterometallic rings.

We present a synthetic, structural, theoretical, and spectroscopic study of a family of heterometallic ring dimers which have the formula [{Cr(7)NiF(3)(Etglu)(O(2)CtBu)(15)}(2)(NLN)], in which Etglu is the pentadeprotonated form of the sugar N-ethyl-D-glucamine, and NLN is an aromatic bridging diimine ligand. By varying NLN we are able to adjust the strength of the interaction between rings with the aim of understanding how to tune our system to achieve weak magnetic communication between the spins, a prerequisite for quantum entanglement. Micro-SQUID and EPR data reveal that the magnetic coupling between rings is partly related to the through-bond distance between the spin centers, but also depends on spin-polarization mechanisms and torsion angles between aromatic rings. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations allow us to make predictions of how such chemically variable parameters could be used to tune very precisely the interaction in such systems. For possible applications in quantum information processing and molecular spintronics, such precise control is essential.

Highly porous and robust scandium-based metal-organic frameworks for hydrogen storage.

The metal-organic frameworks NOTT-400 and NOTT-401, based on a binuclear [Sc(2)(µ(2)-OH)(O(2)CR)(4)] building block, have been synthesised and characterised; the desolvated framework NOTT-401a shows a BET surface area of 1514 m(2) g(-1) with a total H(2) uptake of 4.44 wt% at 77 K and 20 bar.

Chromium chains as polydentate fluoride ligands for lanthanides.

Hexametallic chromium(III) chains can act as fluoride donor ligands to lanthanide ions giving {(Cr(6))Ln(x)}(n) complexes; preliminary spectroscopic studies are reported.

Bow-tie metallo-cryptophanes from a carboxylate derived cavitand.

A new carboxylic acid functionalised cavitand forms [Cu(3)L(2)] metallo-cryptophanes with Cu(OAc)(2) that can be linked together into dimers with the bridging ligand 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene. Reaction of the cavitand with Co(OAc)(2) gives a metallo-cryptophane with a central Co(7) cluster.

Photoreactivity examined through incorporation in metal-organic frameworks.

Metal-organic frameworks, typically built by bridging metal centres with organic linkers, have recently shown great promise for a wide variety of applications, including gas separation and drug delivery. Here, we have used them as a scaffold to probe the photophysical and photochemical properties of metal-diimine complexes. We have immobilized a M(diimine)(CO)(3)X moiety (where M is Re or Mn, and X can be Cl or Br) by using it as the linker of a metal-organic framework, with Mn(II) cations acting as nodes. Time-resolved infrared measurements showed that the initial excited state formed on ultraviolet irradiation of the rhenium-based metal-organic framework was characteristic of an intra-ligand state, rather than the metal-ligand charge transfer state typically observed in solution, and revealed that the metal-diimine complexes rearranged from the fac- to mer-isomer in the crystalline solid state. This approach also enabled characterization of the photoactivity of Mn(diimine)(CO)(3)Br by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.

Novel linear transition metal clusters of a heptadentate bis-beta-diketone ligand.

The synthesis and the structure of the new potentially heptadentate ligand 1,3-bis-(3-oxo-3-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-propionyl)-2-methoxybenzene (H5L) is described. The reaction in pyridine or DMF of this ligand with various M(AcO)2 salts (M = NiII, CoII, MnII) leads to very different products depending on the metal. Thus, the dinuclear complexes [M2(H3L)2(py)4] (M = NiII, 1; CoII, 2) or the linear zigzag tetranuclear clusters [Mn4(H2L)2(AcO)2(py)5] (3) and [Mn4(H2L)2(AcO)2(dmf)4] (4) have been synthesized and characterized crystallographically. Slow oxidation of complex 3 leads to the formation of the novel mixed-valence linear complex [Mn3(HL)2(py)6] (5), displaying an unprecedented asymmetric MnIIIMnIIIMnII topology. The coordination geometry of complexes 1 to 5 has been analyzed and discussed by means of continuous shape measures. Magnetic measurements of 3 and 5 demonstrate that the metals within these complexes weakly interact magnetically with coupling constants of J1 = -1.13 cm-1 and J2 = -0.43 cm-1 (S = 0) for complex 3 and J1 = -5.4 cm-1 and J2 = -0.4 cm-1 (S = 5/2) for complex 5 (using the H = -Sigma2JijSiSj convention). These results are consistent with X-band EPR measurements on these compounds.

Blind crystal structure prediction of a novel second polymorph of 1-hydroxy-7-azabenzotriazole.

The commercially available peptide coupling reagent 1-hydroxy-7-azabenzotriazole has been shown to crystallize in two polymorphic forms. The two polymorphs differ in their hydrogen-bonding motif, with form I having an R(2)(2)(10) dimer motif and form II having a C(5) chain motif. The previously unreported form II was used as an informal blind test of computational crystal structure prediction for flexible molecules. The crystal structure of form II has been successfully predicted blind from lattice-energy minimization calculations following a series of searches using a large number of rigid conformers. The structure for form II was the third lowest in energy with form I found as the global minimum, with the energy calculated as the sum of the ab initio intramolecular energy penalty for conformational distortion and the intermolecular lattice energy which is calculated from a distributed multipole representation of the charge density. The predicted structure was sufficiently close to the experimental structure that it could be used as a starting model for crystal structure refinement. A subsequent limited polymorph screen failed to yield a third polymorphic form, but demonstrated that alcohol solvents are implicated in the formation of the form I dimer structure.

An automated parallel crystallisation search for predicted crystal structures and packing motifs of carbamazepine.

An automated parallel crystallisation search for physical forms of carbamazepine, covering 66 solvents and five crystallisation protocols, identified three anhydrous polymorphs (forms I-III), one hydrate and eight organic solvates, including the single-crystal structures of three previously unreported solvates (N,N-dimethylformamide (1:1); hemi-furfural; hemi-1,4-dioxane). Correlation of physical form outcome with the crystallisation conditions demonstrated that the solvent adopts a relatively nonspecific role in determining which polymorph is obtained, and that the previously reported effect of a polymer template facilitating the formation of form IV could not be reproduced by solvent crystallisation alone. In the accompanying computational search, approximately half of the energetically feasible predicted crystal structures exhibit the C=O...H--N R2(2)(8)dimer motif that is observed in the known polymorphs, with the most stable correctly corresponding to form III. Most of the other energetically feasible structures, including the global minimum, have a C=O...H--N C(4) chain hydrogen bond motif. No such chain structures were observed in this or any other previously published work, suggesting that kinetic, rather than thermodynamic, factors determine which of the energetically feasible crystal structures are observed experimentally, with the kinetics apparently favouring nucleation of crystal structures based on the CBZ-CBZ R2(2)(8) motif.