Low-melting molecular complexes. Halogen bonds in molecular complexes of bromoform

Abstract

Single crystals of three new low-melting molecular complexes of bromoform have been grown in situ, their crystal structures characterized by X-ray crystallography and compared with those of their chloroform analogues. The calculations of pair-wise energies of intermolecular interactions in these structures reveal that in some cases the strongest interactions exist between the molecules which are not linked by any short direction-specific intermolecular contacts. A high versatility of bonding modes of bromoform in comparison to chloroform is demonstrated and the relative role of various intermolecular interactions (including halogen bonds) in studied molecular complexes is discussed.