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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Halogen bonding in 1,2-dibromo-4,5-dimethoxybenzene and 1,2-diiodo-4,5-dimethoxybenzene
Fabio D Cukiernik1, Andrés Zelcer, Maria Teresa Garland
1Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Analítica y Química Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina. baggio@cnea.gov.ar
Abstract:
An interesting case of ;halogen-bonding-promoted' crystal structure architecture is presented. The two title compounds, C(8)H(8)Br(2)O(2) and C(8)H(8)I(2)O(2), have almost indistinguishable molecular structures but very different spatial organization, and this is mainly due to differences in the halogen-bonding interactions in which the different species present, i.e. Br and I, take part. The dibromo structure exhibits a pi-bonded columnar array involving all four independent molecules in the asymmetric unit, with intercolumnar interactions governed by C-Br...Br-C links and with no C-Br...O/N interactions present. In the diiodo structure, instead, the C-I...O synthon prevails, defining linear chains, in turn interlinked by C-I...I-C interactions.
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