Halogen-Bonded Assemblies of Arylene Imides and Diimides: Insight from Electronic, Structural, and Computational...

Halogen-bonding interactions in electron-deficient π scaffolds have largely been underexplored. Herein, the halogen-bonding properties of arylene imide/diimide-based electron-deficient scaffolds were studied. The influence of scaffold size, from small (phthalimide) to moderately sized (pyromellitic diimide or naphthalenediimides) to large (perylenediimide), axial-group modification, and number of halo substituents on the halogen bonding and its self-assembly was probed in a set of nine compounds. The structural modification leads to tunable optical and redox properties. The first reduction potential $$ ranges between -1.09 and -0.17 V (vs. SCE). Two of the compounds, that is, 6 and 9, have deep-lying LUMOs with values reaching -4.2 eV. Single crystals of all nine systems were obtained, which showed Br⋅⋅⋅O, Br⋅⋅⋅Br, or Br⋅⋅⋅π halogen-bonding interactions, and a few systems are capable of forming all three types. These interactions lead to halogen-bonded rings (up to 12-membered), which propagate to form stacked 1D, 2D, or corrugated sheets. A few outliers were also identified, for example, molecules that prefer C-H⋅⋅⋅O hydrogen bonding over halogen bonding, or noncentrosymmetric rather than centrosymmetric organization. Computational studies based on Atoms in Molecules and Natural Bond Orbital analysis provided further insight into the halogen-bonding interactions. This study can lead to a predictive design tool-box to further explore related systems on surfaces reinforced by these weak directional forces.