Hydrogen-bonded network and enforced supramolecular cavities in molecular crystals: An orthogonal aromatic-triad strategy. Guest binding, molecular recognition, and molecular alignment properties of a bisresorcinol derivative of anthracene in the crystalline state

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Abstract
Crystallization of an orthogonal resorcinol-anthracene-resorcinol compound 1a (host) from an ester solvent such as alkyl benzoate (guest) affords a 1:2 host-guest adduct 1a·2(ester). An essential aspect of the crystal structures of ethyl, propyl, and isobutyl benzoate adducts (space group, P21/n) and also that of methyl benzoate adduct (C2/c) is an extensive hydrogen-bonded network of host 1a, leading to a molecular sheet composed of hydrogen-bonded polyresorcinol chains and anthracene columns. This network generates well-defined, cyclophane-like supramolecular cavities, which incorporate two alkyl benzoate molecules in a highly selective manner via a combination of essential host-guest hydrogen-bonding and what may be called the cavity-packing effect. The selectivity factor between methyl benzoate (the lowest-affinity guest) and isobutyl benzoate (the highest-affinity guest) is 1:70 under competitive conditions. The actual geometry of the cavity is somehow dependent on and hence induced-fit adjustable to the guest structures by manipulating the intramolecular (anthracene-resorcinol dihedral angle) and intermolecular conformation (tilt angle between two hydrogen-bonded resorcinol rings) of compound 1a as well as the sheet-to-sheet distance. The adducts 1a·2(guest) can also be obtained by solid-state guest-exchange or guest-binding, respectively, using a preformed adduct or guest-free apohost dipped in an appropriate guest solvent. The methyl benzoate adducts obtained in these ways exhibit the same X-ray powder diffraction pattern as the genuine single-crystal obtained by direct crystallization of host 1a from methyl benzoate. Thus, even internal supramolecular cavities maintained by the hydrogen-bonded network are readily accessible to molecules in bulk solution. In addition, they undergo an induced-fit adjustment to a guest molecule newly added by the guest-exchange or the guest-binding process, during which the crystallinity is maintained. The potential use of symmetrical and divergent multiple hydrogen-bonding sites with an orthogonal aromatic spacer (orthogonal aromatic-triad strategy) is discussed in terms of a tool to construct a new class of porous organic crystals that show novel molecular recognition, crystalline-state guest-binding, and crystalline-phase molecular alignment properties.

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