Halogen bonding with carbon: directional assembly of non-derivatised aromatic carbon systems into robust supramolecular ladder architectures
Jogirdas Vainauskas, Tristan H. Borchers, Mihails Arhangelskis, Laura J. McCormick, Toni S. Spilfogel, Ehsan Hamzehpoor, Filip Topić, Simon J. Coles, Dmitrii F. Perepichka, Christopher J. Barrett, Tomislav Friščić
Abstract
bonds to PAHs lead to a general ladder motif, in which the arenes act as the rungs and halogen bond donors as the rails, establishing a unique example of a supramolecular synthon based on carbon-only molecules. Besides fundamental importance in the solid-state and supramolecular chemistry of arenes, this synthon enables access to materials with exciting properties based on simple, non-derivatised aromatic systems, as seen from large red and blue shifts in solid-state luminescence and room-temperature phosphorescence upon cocrystallisation.