(18-Crown-6)sodium tribromide and (18-crown-6)potassium triiodide (with an admixture of bromodiiodide): Synthesis and crystal structure

Abstract

Two crystalline host-guest complexes are synthesized and studied using X-ray diffraction analysis: (18-crown-6)sodium tribromide [Na(18-crown-6)]⁺ · Br ⁻₃ (I) and (18-crown-6)potassium tribromide (with an admixture of bromodiiodide) [K(18-crown-6)]⁺ · (Br_0.25I_2.75)⁻ (II). The structures of compound I (space group P2₁/_{n, a} = 8.957 Å, b = 8.288 Å, c = 14.054 Å, β = 104.80°, Z = 2) and compound II (space group Cc, a = 8.417 Å, b = 15.147 Å, c = 17.445 Å, β = 99.01°, Z = 4) are solved by a direct method and refined by the full-matrix least-squares method in the anisotropic approximation to R = 0.098 (I) and 0.036 (II) for all 2311 (I) and 2678 (II) independent measured reflections on a CAD-4 automated diffractometer (λMoK _α). Similar crystalline complexes I and II exist as infinite chains of alternating complex cations and trihalide anions linked to each other through weak Na-Br or K-I coordination bonds. In [Na(18-crown-6)]⁺ and [K(18-crown-6)]⁺ complex cations, the Na⁺ or K⁺ cation (coordination number is eight) is located in the center of the cavity of the 18-crown-6 ligand and coordinated by the six O atoms and two terminal Br or I atoms of two trihalide anions lying on opposite sides of the rms plane of the crown ligand.