The ditopic molecule 3-(1,3,5-trimethyl-1
H-4-pyrazolyl)pentane-2,4-dione (HacacMePz) combines two different Lewis basic sites. It forms a crystalline adduct with the popular halogen bond (XB) donor 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-1,4-diiodobenzene (TFDIB) with a HacacMePz:TFDIB ratio of 2:3. In a simplified picture, the topology of the adduct corresponds
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The ditopic molecule 3-(1,3,5-trimethyl-1
H-4-pyrazolyl)pentane-2,4-dione (HacacMePz) combines two different Lewis basic sites. It forms a crystalline adduct with the popular halogen bond (XB) donor 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-1,4-diiodobenzene (TFDIB) with a HacacMePz:TFDIB ratio of 2:3. In a simplified picture, the topology of the adduct corresponds to a
hcb net. In addition to the expected acetylacetone keto O and pyrazole N acceptor sites, a third and less common short contact to a TFDIB iodine is observed: The acceptor site is again the most electron-rich site of the pyrazole π-system. This iminic N atom is thus engaged as the acceptor in two orthogonal halogen bonds. Evaluation of the geometric results and of a single-point calculation agree with respect to the strength of the intermolecular contacts: The conventional N⋯I XB is the shortest (2.909(4) Å) and associated with the highest electron density (0.150
eÅ
) in the bond critical point (BCP), followed by the O⋯I contact (2.929(3) Å, 0.109
eÅ
), and the π contact (3.2157(3) Å, 0.075
eÅ
). If one accepts the idea of deducing interaction energies from energy densities at the BCP, the short contacts also follow this sequence. Two more criteria identify the short N⋯I contact as the most relevant: The associated C–I bond is significantly longer than the database average, and it is the only intermolecular interaction with a negative total energy density in the BCP.
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