Z' = 4 structure without obvious pseudosymmetry: implications for the formation of solid-state compounds

Crystals of 4-chloro-2'-biphenylol grown at 263 K and studied at both 293 and 142 K are loosely packed and contain OH.O bonded tetramers composed of four crystallographically independent molecules (Z' = 4). Approximate symmetry relationships between independent molecules are apparent in many, perhaps even most, structures with Z' > 1, but are not obvious in this structure. The inefficient crystal packing, the surprisingly large value of Z' and the absence of pseudosymmetry reflect the difficulty of finding a dense molecular arrangement that also allows for hydrogen-bond formation. Impediments to good packing are the steric congestion around the ortho hydroxyl groups and the difficulty in filling space with significantly twisted biphenyl fragments. The packing arrangement adopted is strongly reminiscent of the structure type found for eight simple 4,4'-biphenyl derivatives, but one of the four independent 4-chloro-2'-biphenylol molecules has an orientation that is significantly different from the orientations of the other three and that does not fit the 4,4'-XPhPhY pattern. It is suggested that molecules that crystallize with Z' > 1 are good candidates for solid-state compound formation.