Arene-perfluoroarene interactions in crystal engineering. 5. Octafluoronaphthalene-tetrathiafulvalene (1/1)

Synthesis of luminescent cocrystals based on fluoranthene and the analysis of weak interactions and photophysical properties

A series of luminescent cocrystals with fluoranthene (C₁₆H₁₀) as the fluorophore and benzene-1,2,4,5-tetracarbonitrile (TCNB, C₁₀H₂N₄), 2,3,5,6-tetrafluorobenzene-1,4-dicarbonitrile (TFP, C₈F₄N₂) and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-octafluoronaphthalene (OFN, C₁₀F₈) as the coformers was designed and synthesized. Structure analysis revealed that these layered structures were due to charge transfer, π-π interactions and hydrogen bonding. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that fluoranthene-TCNB and fluoranthene-TFP have charge-transfer properties, while fluoranthene-OFN does not, indicating that fluoranthene-OFN has arene-perfluoroarene (AP) interactions, which was also demonstrated by spectroscopic analysis, which shows that the photophysical properties of luminescent materials can be tuned by forming cocrystals. These results all prove that utilizing supramolecular cocrystals to develop new fluorescent materials is an effective strategy, which has much potential in optoelectronic applications.

Pressure-Induced Polymerization of Polycyclic Arene-Perfluoroarene Cocrystals: Single Crystal X-ray Diffraction Studies, Reaction Kinetics, and Design of Columnar Hydrofluorocarbons

Pressure-induced polymerization of aromatic compounds leads to novel materials containing sp³ carbon-bonded networks. The choice of the molecular species and the control of their arrangement in the crystal structures via intermolecular interactions, such as the arene-perfluoroarene interaction, can enable the design of target polymers. We have investigated the crystal structure compression and pressure-induced polymerization reaction kinetics of two polycyclic 1:1 arene-perfluoroarene cocrystals, naphthalene/octafluoronaphthalene (NOFN) and anthracene/octafluoronaphthalene (AOFN), up to 25 and 30 GPa, respectively, using single-crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and theoretical computations based on density-functional theory. Our study shows the remarkable pressure stability of the parallel arene-perfluoroarene π-stacking arrangement and a reduction of the interplanar π-stacking separations by ca. 19-22% before the critical reaction distance is reached. A further strong, discontinuous, and irreversible reduction along the stacking direction at 20 GPa in NOFN (18.8%) and 25 GPa in AOFN (8.7%) indicates the pressure-induced breakdown of π-stacking by formation of σ-bonded polymers. The association of the structural distortion with the occurrence of a chemical reaction is confirmed by a high-pressure kinetic study using infrared spectroscopy, indicating one-dimensional polymer growth. Structural predictions for the fully polymerized high-pressure phases consisting of highly ordered rods of hydrofluorocarbons are presented based on theoretical computations, which are in excellent agreement with the experimentally determined unit-cell parameters. We show that the polymerization takes place along the arene-perfluoroarene π-stacking direction and that the lateral extension of the columns depends on the extension of the arene and perfluoroarene molecules.

PAH/PAH(CF3 )n Donor/Acceptor Charge-Transfer Complexes in Solution and in Solid-State Co-Crystals

A solution, solid-state, and computational study is reported of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon PAH/PAH(CF3 )n donor/acceptor (D/A) charge-transfer complexes that involve six PAH(CF3 )n acceptors with known gas-phase electron affinities that range from 2.11(2) to 2.805(15) eV and four PAH donors, including seven CT co-crystal X-ray structures that exhibit hexagonal arrays of mixed π-stacks with 1/1, 1/2, or 2/1 D/A stoichiometries (PAH=anthracene, azulene, coronene, perylene, pyrene, triphenylene; n=5, 6). These are the first D/A CT complexes with PAH(CF3 )n acceptors to be studied in detail. The nine D/A combinations were chosen to allow several structural and electronic comparisons to be made, providing new insights about controlling D/A interactions and the structures of CT co-crystals. The comparisons include, among others, CT complexes of the same PAH(CF3 )n acceptor with four PAH donors and CT complexes of the same donor with four PAH(CF3 )n acceptors. All nine CT complexes exhibit charge-transfer bands in solution with λmax between 467 and 600 nm. A plot of E(λmax ) versus [IE(donor)-EA(acceptor)] for the nine CT complexes studied is linear with a slope of 0.72±0.03 eV eV-1 . This plot is the first of its kind for CT complexes with structurally related donors and acceptors for which precise experimental gas-phase IEs and EAs are known. It demonstrates that conclusions based on the common assumption that the slope of a CT E(λmax ) versus [IE-EA] plot is unity may be incorrect in at least some cases and should be reconsidered.

Arene–perfluoroarene interactions in crystal engineering. Part 14. 1:1 Complexes of octafluoronaphthalene with fluorene and 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene

The 1:1 molecular complexes of octafluoronaphthalene (OFN) with fluorene (1) and with 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene (2) were prepared by cocrystallization of the components and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure of 1 can be described as a mixed-stack or a laminar checkerboard motif of alternating OFN and fluorene molecules, whilst slanted mixed-stack, herringbone, and face-to-face heteromolecular dimer motifs can all be recognised in 2.Key words: single crystal, X-ray structure, π stacking, fluoroarene.