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Updated: Jun 24, 2026

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Halogen bonding between an isoindoline nitroxide and 1,4-diiodotetrafluorobenzene: new tools and tectons for
Graeme R Hanson1, Paul Jensen, John McMurtrie
1Centre for Magnetic Resonance, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
Abstract:
Radical assembly: Halogen bonding has been observed for the first time between an isoindoline nitroxide and an iodoperfluorocarbon (see figure), which cocrystallize to form a discrete 2:1 supramolecular compound in which N--O(.)I halogen bonding is the dominant intermolecular interaction. This illustrates the potential use of halogen bonding and isoindoline nitroxide tectons for the assembly of organic spin systems.The isoindoline nitroxide 1,1,3,3-tetramethylisoindolin-2-yloxyl (TMIO) and 1,4-diiodotetrafluorobenzene readily form a discrete 2:1 complex that shows evidence of relatively strong N--O(.)I halogen bonding. This interaction was characterized in the solid state by single-crystal X-ray analysis, thermal analysis, and vibrational spectroscopy (IR and Raman), backed by density functional theory calculations. EPR spectroscopy performed on a solution of TMIO in pentafluoroiodobenzene, a halogen-bonding donor, indicates that halogen bonding induces an increase in electron density at the nitroxide nitrogen nucleus and an increase in the nitroxide rotational correlation time. Our findings demonstrate the potential of utilizing halogen-bonding interactions to promote the self-assembly of new isoindoline nitroxide tectons for the preparation of organic spin systems.
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