Ternary Cocrystals with Large Soft Cavities: A 1,4-diiodotetrafluorobenzene (DITFB)⋅4-Biphenylpyridine N-oxide (BPNO) Host Assembled by Inclusion of Planar Aromatic Guests

Cocrystals assembled from iodoperfluorobenzene and flexible NTPO via halogen and π-hole bonds

Two binary cocrystals of 1,4-diiodotetrafluorobenzene (1,4-DITFB, C₆F₄I₂) and 1,3,5-trifluoro-2,4,6-triiodobenzene (1,3,5-TITFB, C₆F₃I₃) with the flexible 2-{[(naphthalen-2-yl)methyl]sulfanyl}pyridine 1-oxide (NTPO, C₁₆H₁₃NOS) molecule were successfully prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction and quantum chemistry calculation methods. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the conformation of the flexible NTPO molecule has been changed significantly after introducing the 1,4-DITFB or 1,3,5-TITFB molecule into the NTPO lattice. Also the formation of the binary cocrystals is driven mainly by robust C-I...^-O-N⁺ halogen bonds and π-hole...π-bond interactions, and they possess `sandwich' structural frameworks. Moreover, interaction energy analysis and AIM analysis were used to explore the contribution of different fragments to the structural stability and the corresponding electronic properties, which reveals that the robust halogen bonds with shorter bonding lengths [2.768 (4) and 2.789 (3) Å] are suggested to be covalent to a certain degree.