Crystal structures of 3,4,5-tri-phenyl-toluene and 3,4,5-tri-phenyl-benzyl bromide

This article describes the crystal structures of 3,4,5-tri-phenyl-toluene, C₂₅H₂₀ (1), and 3,4,5-tri-phenyl-benzyl bromide, C₂₅H₁₉Br (2), which represent two inter-mediates of a multistep synthesis of a phenyl-acetic acid derivative. Compound 1 crystallizes from methanol in two polymorphic forms, with the space groups P2/n (1a) and P2₁/c (1b). In both cases, van der Waals forces significantly contribute to the cohesion of the crystal structure and the two polymorphs are characterized by similar modes of mol-ecular inter-connection. Compound 2 crystallizes from n-hexane in the space group P1, showing a similar pattern of noncovalent inter-actions to 1a and 1b. In all reported structures, the aromatic framework of the mol-ecules adopts a paddlewheel-like conformation.