Three-in-One: Dye-Volatile Cocrystals Exhibiting Intensity-Dependent Photochromic, Photomechanical, and Photocarving Response.

Cocrystallization of a cis-azobenzene dye with volatile molecules, such as pyrazine and dioxane, leads to materials that exhibit at least three different light-intensity-dependent responses upon irradiation with low-power visible light. The halogen-bond-driven assembly of the dye cis-(p-iodoperfluorophenyl)azobenzene with volatile halogen bond acceptors produces cocrystals whose light-induced behavior varies significantly depending on the intensity of the light applied. Low-intensity (<1 mW·cm-2) light irradiation leads to a color change associated with low levels of cis → trans isomerization. Irradiation at higher intensities (150 mW·mm-2) produces photomechanical bending, caused by more extensive isomerization of the dye. At still higher irradiation intensities (2.25 W·mm-2) the cocrystals undergo cold photocarving; i.e., they can be cut and written on with micrometer precision using laser light without a major thermal effect. Real-time Raman spectroscopy shows that this novel photochemical behavior differs from what would be expected from thermal energy input alone. Overall, this work introduces a rational blueprint, based on supramolecular chemistry in the solid state, for new types of crystalline light-responsive materials, which not only respond to being exposed to light but also change their response based on the light intensity.

Halogen bonding with carbon: directional assembly of non-derivatised aromatic carbon systems into robust supramolecular ladder architectures.

Carbon, although the central element in organic chemistry, has been traditionally neglected as a target for directional supramolecular interactions. The design of supramolecular structures involving carbon-rich molecules, such as arene hydrocarbons, has been limited almost exclusively to non-directional π-stacking, or derivatisation with heteroatoms to introduce molecular assembly recognition sites. As a result, the predictable assembly of non-derivatised, carbon-only π-systems using directional non-covalent interactions remains an unsolved fundamental challenge of solid-state supramolecular chemistry. Here, we propose and validate a different paradigm for the reliable assembly of carbon-only aromatic systems into predictable supramolecular architectures: not through non-directional π-stacking, but via specific and directional halogen bonding. We present a systematic experimental, theoretical and database study of halogen bonds to carbon-only π-systems (C-I⋯πC bonds), focusing on the synthesis and structural analysis of cocrystals with diversely-sized and -shaped non-derivatised arenes, from one-ring (benzene) to 15-ring (dicoronylene) polycyclic atomatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and fullerene C60, along with theoretical calculations and a systematic analysis of the Cambridge Structural Database. This study establishes C-I⋯πC bonds as directional interactions to arrange planar and curved carbon-only aromatic systems into predictable supramolecular motifs. In >90% of herein presented structures, the C-I⋯πC bonds to PAHs lead to a general ladder motif, in which the arenes act as the rungs and halogen bond donors as the rails, establishing a unique example of a supramolecular synthon based on carbon-only molecules. Besides fundamental importance in the solid-state and supramolecular chemistry of arenes, this synthon enables access to materials with exciting properties based on simple, non-derivatised aromatic systems, as seen from large red and blue shifts in solid-state luminescence and room-temperature phosphorescence upon cocrystallisation.

Hirshfeld atom refinement of metal-organic frameworks for accurate positioning of hydrogen atoms and disorder analysis.

The application of Hirshfeld atom refinement (HAR) fragmentation is demonstrated for the refinement of metal-organic framework (MOF) crystal structures. The presented method enables anisotropic refinement of imidazolate hydrogen atoms, as well as complex analysis of solvent disorder within MOF pores. The data used were derived from standard resolution in-house single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements, demonstrating that high quality structural analysis of MOFs no longer requires access to neutron or synchrotron facilities.

Polymorphs and solid solutions: materials with new luminescent properties obtained through mechanochemical transformation of dicyanoaurate(I) salts.

We report the use of mechano- and thermochemical methods to create new solid-state luminescent materials from well-known inorganic salts, potassium dicyanoaurate(I) KAu(CN)2, and potassium dicyanocuprate(I) KCu(CN)2. In particular, manual grinding or ball milling of commercial samples of KAu(CN)2 led to the formation of a novel polymorph of the salt, herein termed m-KAu(CN)2, evident by a significant change in color of the fluorescence emission of the solid material from orange to violet. The formation of m-KAu(CN)2 is reversible upon addition of small amounts of solvents, and powder X-ray diffraction analysis indicates that the structure of m-KAu(CN)2 might be related to that of pristine KAu(CN)2 through a change in ordering of Au(CN)2- ions in a layered structure. Thermal treatment of KAu(CN)2 led to the discovery of another polymorph of this well-known salt, herein termed t-KAu(CN)2, making KAu(CN)2 a rare example of a system in which thermochemical and mechanochemical treatments lead to the formation of different, in each case previously not reported, polymorphic forms. The thermally-induced transformation from KAu(CN)2 to t-KAu(CN)2 takes place around 250 °C and proceeds in a crystal-to-crystal fashion, which enabled the preliminary structural characterisation through single crystal X-ray diffraction, revealing the retention of the layered structure and a change in ordering of Au(CN)2- ions. Milling of the simple salt KAu(CN)2 in the presence of equimolar amounts or less of its copper(I)-based analogue coordination polymer KCu(CN)2 leads to the formation of a series of solid solution materials, isostructural to m-KAu(CN)2 and with visible fluorescence emission distinct from KCu(CN)2 or any herein investigated forms of KAu(CN)2.

After 200 Years: The Structure of Bleach and Characterization of Hypohalite Ions by Single-Crystal X-Ray Diffraction*.

We report the first X-ray single crystal structures of hypochlorite (ClO- ) and hypobromite (BrO- ) salts, including hydrated sodium hypochlorite, a staple of the chlorine industry and ubiquitous bleaching and disinfection agent for almost 200 years. The structures, supported by variable-temperature Raman spectroscopy on individual crystals and periodic density-functional theory (DFT) calculations, provide insight into solid-state geometry and supramolecular chemistry of hypohalite ions.

Amidino substituted 2-aminophenols: biologically important building blocks for the amidino-functionalization of 2-substituted benzoxazoles.

Unlike the closely related and widely investigated amidino-substituted benzimidazoles and benzothiazoles with a range of demonstrated biological activities, the matching benzoxazole analogues still remain a largely understudied and not systematically evaluated class of compounds. To address this challenge, we utilized the Pinner reaction to convert isomeric cyano-substituted 2-aminophenols into their amidine derivatives, which were isolated as hydrochlorides and/or zwitterions, and whose structure was confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The key step during the Pinner synthesis of the crucial carboximidate intermediates was characterized through mechanistic DFT calculations, with the obtained kinetic and thermodynamic parameters indicating full agreement with the experimental observations. The obtained amidines were subjected to a condensation reaction with aryl carboxylic acids that allowed the synthesis of a new library of 5- and 6-amidino substituted 2-arylbenzoxazoles. Their antiproliferative features against four human tumour cell lines (SW620, HepG2, CFPAC-1, HeLa) revealed sub-micromolar activities on SW620 for several cyclic amidino 2-naphthyl benzoxazoles, thus demonstrating the usefulness of the proposed synthetic strategy and promoting amidino substituted 2-aminophenols as important building blocks towards biologically active systems.

Halogen bonding to the azulene π-system: cocrystal design of pleochroism.

We describe the rational development of a design for pleochroic molecular solids, by using C-Iπ halogen bonds to pre-organise different chromophores in a cocrystal. Using the structure of a known naphthalene cocrystal as a blueprint, we demonstrate how a highly robust C-Iπ motif permits the systematic exchange of original cocrystal components with azobenzene and azulene, resulting in optically interesting dichroic or pleochroic materials.

Mechanochemical reactions of cocrystals: comparing theory with experiment in the making and breaking of halogen bonds in the solid state.

Mechanochemical re-investigation of the halogen-bonded cocrystallisation of 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]-octane and 1,2-diiodotetrafluorobenzene revealed an unexpectedly complex system with three distinct cocrystal compositions, one of which also exhibits temperature-dependent polymorphism. This provided an opportunity to experimentally test the ability of dispersion-corrected periodic density functional theory (DFT) to not only explain the formation, but also predict the interconversion between halogen-bonded cocrystals of different stoichiometries.

Influencing the Self-Sorting Behavior of [2.2]Paracyclophane-Based Ligands by Introducing Isostructural Binding Motifs.

Two isostructural ligands with either nitrile (Lnit ) or isonitrile (Liso ) moieties directly connected to a [2.2]paracyclophane backbone with pseudo-meta substitution pattern have been synthesized. The ligand itself (Lnit ) or its precursors (Liso ) were resolved by HPLC on a chiral stationary phase and the absolute configuration of the isolated enantiomers was assigned by XRD analysis and/or by comparison of quantum-chemical simulated and experimental electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra. Surprisingly, the resulting metallosupramolecular aggregates formed in solution upon coordination of [(dppp)Pd(OTf)2 ] differ in their composition: whereas Lnit forms dinuclear complexes, Liso exclusively forms trinuclear ones. Furthermore, they also differ in their chiral self-sorting behavior as (rac)-Liso undergoes exclusive social self-sorting leading to a heterochiral assembly, whereas (rac)-Liso shows a twofold preference for the formation of homochiral complexes in a narcissistic self-sorting manner as proven by ESI mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. Interestingly, upon crystallization, these discrete aggregates undergo structural transformation to coordination polymers, as evidenced by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.

Cocrystal trimorphism as a consequence of the orthogonality of halogen- and hydrogen-bonds synthons.

True trimorphic cocrystals, i.e. multi-component molecular crystals of identical composition that exhibit three polymorphic structures, are exceedingly rare and so far no halogen-bonded cocrystal system has been reported to exhibit trimorphism. Here we describe a unique example of a trimorphic cocrystal exhibiting both hydrogen and halogen bonds in which the differences between polymorphs reveal their orthogonality, evident by the apparently independent variation of well-defined hydrogen- and halogen-bonded motifs.

P-Chiral, N-phosphoryl sulfonamide Brønsted acids with an intramolecular hydrogen bond interaction that modulates organocatalysis.

Brønsted acids exemplified by OttoPhosa I (5c) were designed and evaluated in the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of quinolines. Their catalytic properties are modulated by an intramolecular hydrogen bond that rigidifies their catalytic cavity, accelerates the reaction rate and improves enantioselectivity.

Dynamic Refolding of Ion-Pair Catalysts in Response to Different Anions.

Four distinct folding patterns are identified in two foldamer-type urea-thiourea catalysts bearing a basic dimethylamino unit by a combination of X-ray crystallography, solution NMR studies, and computational studies (DFT). These patterns are characterized by different intramolecular hydrogen bonding schemes that arise largely from different thiourea conformers. The free base forms of the catalysts are characterized by folds where the intramolecular hydrogen bonds between the urea and the thiourea units remain intact. In contrast, the catalytically relevant salt forms of the catalyst, where the catalyst forms an ion pair with the substrate or substrate analogues, appear in two entirely different folding patterns. With larger anions that mimic the dialkyl malonate substrates, the catalysts maintain their native fold both in the solid state and in solution, but with smaller halide anions (fluoride, chloride, and bromide), the catalysts fold around the halide anion (anion receptor fold), and the intramolecular hydrogen bonds are disrupted. Titration of catalyst hexafluoroacetylacetonate salt with tetra-n-butylammonium chloride results in dynamic refolding of the catalyst from the native fold to the anion receptor fold.

Functionality in metal-organic framework minerals: proton conductivity, stability and potential for polymorphism.

Rare metal-organic framework (MOF) minerals stepanovite and zhemchuzhnikovite can exhibit properties comparable to known oxalate MOF proton conductors, including high proton conductivity over a range of relative humidities at 25 °C, and retention of the framework structure upon thermal dehydration. They also have high thermodynamic stability, with a pronounced stabilizing effect of substituting aluminium for iron, illustrating a simple design to access stable, highly proton-conductive MOFs without using complex organic ligands.

Asymmetric Library Synthesis of P-Chiral t-Butyl-Substituted Secondary and Tertiary Phosphine Oxides.

An asymmetric synthesis, amenable to library preparation of structurally diverse P-chiral t-butyl substituted secondary phosphine oxides (SPOs) and tertiary phosphine oxides (TPOs), was developed. A P-chiral H-phosphinate building block was prepared via a two-step, one-pot condensation of a chiral auxiliary with t-BuPCl2, followed by hydrolysis. Nucleophilic displacement of the chiral auxiliary with Grignard reagents, followed by hydrolysis, provided a library of P-chiral SPOs. In situ treatment of the prehydrolysis intermediate with electrophiles also provided a library of P-chiral TPOs in high enantiomeric purity.

Halogen-bonded cocrystallization with phosphorus, arsenic and antimony acceptors.

The formation of non-covalent directional interactions, such as hydrogen or halogen bonds, is a central concept of materials design, which hinges on using small compact atoms of the 2nd period, notably nitrogen and oxygen, as acceptors. Heavier atoms are much less prominent in that context, and mostly limited to sulfur. Here, we report the experimental observation and theoretical study of halogen bonds to phosphorus, arsenic and antimony in the solid state. Combining 1,3,5-trifluoro-2,4,6-triiodobenzene with triphenylphosphine, -arsine, and -stibine provides cocrystals based on I···P, I···As and I···Sb halogen bonds. The demonstration that increasingly metallic pnictogens form halogen bonds sufficiently strong to enable cocrystal formation is an advance in supramolecular chemistry which opens up opportunities in materials science, as shown by colossal thermal expansion of the cocrystal involving I···Sb halogen bonds.

Stepwise Construction of Heterobimetallic Cages by an Extended Molecular Library Approach.

Two novel heterobimetallic complexes, a trigonal-bipyramidal and a cubic one, have been synthesized and characterized using the same C3-symmetric metalloligand, prepared by a simple subcomponent self-assembly strategy. Adopting the molecular library approach, we chose a mononuclear, preorganized iron(II) complex as the metalloligand capable of self-assembly into a trigonal-bipyramidal or a cubic aggregate upon coordination to cis-protected C2-symmetric palladium(II) or unprotected tetravalent palladium(II) ions, respectively. The trigonal-bipyramidal complex was characterized by NMR and UV-vis spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The cubic structure was characterized by NMR and UV-vis spectroscopy and ESI-MS.

Electron-Deficient Pyridylimines: Versatile Building Blocks for Functional Metallosupramolecular Chemistry.

Metallosupramolecular systems heavily rely on the correct choice of ligands to obtain materials with desired properties. Engaging this problem, we present three ligand systems and six of their mono- and dinuclear complexes, based on the subcomponent self-assembly approach using electron-deficient pyridylcarbaldehyde building blocks. The properties are examined in solution by NMR and UV-vis spectroscopy and CV measurements as well as in solid state by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Ultimately, the choice of ligands allows for fine-tuning of the electronic properties of the metal centers, complex-to-complex transformations, as well as establishing distinct anion-π-interaction motifs.

"Two-Story" Calix[6]arene-Based Zinc and Copper Complexes: Structure, Properties, and O2 Binding.

A new "two-story" calix[6]arene-based ligand was synthesized, and its coordination chemistry was explored. It presents a tren cap connected to the calixarene small rim through three amido spacers. X-ray diffraction studies of its metal complexes revealed a six-coordinate ZnII complex with all of the carbonyl groups of the amido arms bound and a five-coordinate CuII complex with only one amido arm bound. These dicationic complexes were poorly responsive toward exogenous neutral donors, but the amido arms were readily displaced by small anions or deprotonated with a base to give the corresponding monocationic complexes. Cyclic voltammetry in various solvents showed a reversible wave for the CuII/CuI couple at very negative potentials, denoting an electron-rich environment. The reversibility of the system was attributed to the amido arms, which can coordinate the metal center in both its +II and +I redox states. The reversibility was lost upon anion binding to Cu. Upon exposure of the CuI complex to O2 at low temperature, a green species was obtained with a UV-vis signature typical of an end-on superoxide CuII complex. Such a species was proposed to be responsible for oxygen insertion reactions onto the ligand according to the unusual and selective four-electron oxidative pathway previously described with a "one-story" calix[6]tren ligand.

Assembly and dichroism of a four-component halogen-bonded metal-organic cocrystal salt solvate involving dicyanoaurate(I) acceptors.

We describe the use of dicyanoaurate ions as linear ditopic metal-organic acceptors for the halogen bond-driven assembly of a dichroic metal-organic cocrystal based on azobenzene chromophores. Structural analysis by single crystal X-ray diffraction revealed that the material is a four-component solid, consisting of anticipated anionic metal-organic halogen-bonded chains based on dicyanoaurate ions, as well as complex potassium-based cations and discrete molecules of the crown ether 15-crown-5. Importantly, the structural analysis revealed the parallel alignment of the halogen-bonded chains required for dichroic behaviour, confirming that crystal engineering principles developed for the design of halogen-bonded dichroic organic cocrystals are also applicable to metal-based structures. In the broader context of crystal engineering, the structure of the herein reported dichroic material is additionally interesting as the presence of an ion pair, a neutral azobenzene and a molecule of a room-temperature liquid make it an example of a solid that simultaneously conforms to definitions of a salt, a cocrystal, and a solvate.

Chiral hemicucurbit[8]uril as an anion receptor: selectivity to size, shape and charge distribution.

A novel eight-membered macrocycle of the hemicucurbit[n]uril family, chiral (all-R)-cyclohexanohemicucurbit[8]uril (cycHC[8]) ‡The name cyclohexylhemicucurbituril, previously used for these macrocycles, is changed in accordance with the IUPAC nomenclature for fused cycles, as the cyclohexane substituents are fused with the parent hemicucurbituril. binds anions in a purely protic solvent with remarkable selectivity. The cycHC[8] portals open and close to fully encapsulate anions in a 1 : 1 ratio, resembling a molecular Pac-Man™. Comprehensive gas, solution and solid phase studies prove that the binding is governed by the size, shape and charge distribution of the bound anion. Gas phase studies show an order of SbF6- ≈ PF6- > ReO4- > ClO4- > SCN- > BF4- > HSO4- > CF3SO3- for anion complexation strength. An extensive crystallographic study reveals the preferred orientations of the anions within the octahedral cavity of cycHC[8] and highlights the importance of the size- and shape-matching between the anion and the receptor cavity. The solution studies show the strongest binding of the ideally fitting SbF6- anion, with an association constant of 2.5 × 105 M-1 in pure methanol. The symmetric, receptor cavity-matching charge distribution of the anions results in drastically stronger binding than in the case of anions with asymmetric charge distribution. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) reveals the complexation to be exothermic and enthalpy-driven. The DFT calculations and VT-NMR studies confirmed that the complexation proceeds through a pre-complex formation while the exchange of methanol solvent with the anion is the rate-limiting step. The octameric cycHC[8] offers a unique example of template-controlled design of an electroneutral host for binding large anions in a competitive polar solvent.