Acetic anhydride at 100 K: the first crystal structure determination

Acetic anhydride (ethanoic anhydride), (CH₃CO)₂O, is a widely used acetylation reagent in organic synthesis. The crystal and molecular structure, as determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis at 100 K, is reported for the first time. A crystal of the title compound (m.p. 200 K) suitable for X-ray diffraction was grown from the melt at low temperature. The title compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pbcn, with Z = 4. In the crystal, the molecule adopts an exact C₂-symmetric conformation about a crystallographic twofold axis. The molecules are densely packed. Two of the methyl H atoms form short intermolecular contacts to a neighbouring carbonyl O atom, which can be viewed as weak hydrogen bonds.