Chromic materials are nowadays widely used in various technological applications, however understanding the effect and the possibility of tuning the obtained colour of a material are still challenging. Here a combined experimental and theoretical study is presented on the solvatochromic and crystallochromic effects in the (pseudo)polymorphs of tyraminium violurate. This organic material exhibits a large solvatochromic shift (ca 192 nm) associated with broad colour change (from yellow to dark violet). Tyraminum violurate crystallizes as red crystals of form (I) from water as a solvate, and as an unsolvated form [violet crystals of (II)] from methanol solution. Form (I), when heated, undergoes two crystal-to-crystal phase transformations associated with colour change of the crystals. Crystals of (II) show extreme birefringence (ca 0.46) and high refractive index (n γ above 1.90), which can be correlated with preferential orientation of the resultant dipole moments of the ions. Examination of optical effects (UV–Vis spectra) along with theoretical calculations (QTAIM, atomic and bond polarizabilities) enabled the description of the origin of colour in the studied materials.

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In the past two decades, the solvomorphism phenomenon in organic materials has attracted much attention, especially in the pharmaceutical and materials industries. Cocrystallization with solvent molecules can lead to modified physical and chemical properties of materials. We present here two new solvomorphs (pseudopolymorphs) of tyraminium 5,5-diethylbarbiturate [2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethanaminium 5,5-diethyl-2,4,6-trioxotetrahydro-2H-pyrimidin-1-ide, C8H12NO+·C8H11N2O3 −] with unusual structural features. Pseudopolymorph (I) follows the symmetry of the P21/n space group and has four tyraminium cations, four barbitalate anions and four molecules of chloroform in the asymmetric unit. Pseudopolymorph (II) crystallizes in the space group R\overline{3}c with one tyraminium cation, one barbitalate anion and a small amount of disordered solvent (ethanol and water) located in the cavities. Hirshfeld surface analysis and the Non-Covalent Interaction (NCI) index were used to examine and compare the crystal packing features and intermolecular interactions in (I) and (II). Both materials crystallize with large unit cells and contain nontypical barbitalate ions formed through deprotonation of the barbital N3 position. Pseudopolymorph (I) is an example of a crystal structure with a rarely observed value of Z′ = 4. Analysis of the hydrogen-bond patterns in (II) showed an unusual arrangement of three barbitalate anions in R 3 3(12) rings, which is the first example of such a hydrogen-bond motif in barbital structures. The mutual arrangement of the ions in the crystal structure of (II) leads to the formation of specific cavities along the c direction.

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