Three modulation patterns in four related [M(H2O)2(15-crown-5)](NO3)2 structures

The structures of [M(H2O)2(15-crown-5)](NO3)2, M = Cu, Zn, Mg and Co, and 15-crown-5 = 1,4,7,10,13-pentaoxacyclopentadecane, have been redetermined at 294 and 90 K. The four structures, and a second form of the Cu structure, have been reported in the literature, but are all incorrect in some significant way. The structures, which all have at least two independent formula units (i.e. Z' > or = 2), are related; each water ligand is hydrogen-bonded to two nitrate anions, while each nitrate anion is hydrogen bonded to the water ligands of two cations. In the tetragonal Co structure the hydrogen-bond pattern is three-dimensional; in the monoclinic Cu, Zn and Mg structures the hydrogen-bond patterns are two-dimensional. In the isostructural Zn and Mg structures Z' = 3, while in the Cu structure Z' = 5. The Cu, Zn and Mg structures are modulated variants of a basic structure, which was reported for Cu but which probably does not exist. The conformations of the 11 independent cations are remarkably similar; they all have approximate twofold symmetry and so exist as conformational enantiomers. The most important modulation is imperfect enantiomeric alternation of the cations along the longest cell axis; the independent cations are related by very good pseudotranslation and pseudoinversion operations. The diffraction patterns for all four structures have classes of weak, even very weak, reflections.