The halogen‐bonding interaction is one of the rising stars in supramolecular chemistry. Although other weak interactions and their influence on the structure and chemistry of various molecules, complexes and materials have been investigated thoroughly, the field of halogen bonding is still quite unexplored and its impact on chemistry in general is yet to be fully revealed. In principle, every Y–X bond (Y = electron‐withdrawing atom or moiety, X = halogen atom) can act as a halogen‐bond donor when the halogen is polarized enough by Y. Perfluorohalocarbons are iconic halogen‐bond donor molecules in which Y is a perfluorinated aryl or alkyl moiety and X is either iodine or bromine. In this article, alternative halogen‐bond motifs such as X2···A and Ar–X···A [A = Lewis basic halogen‐bond‐accepting atom of a molecule or ion; Ar = neutral or charged (hetero)aromatic system] are reviewed. In addition, haloalkenes, haloalkynes, N‐haloamides and other non‐metallic halogen‐bond donors and their respective halogen‐bonded structures will also be described. Although purely organic halogen‐bonding motifs are very prominent, the role of metal complexes in halogen bonding is becoming increasingly evident as well, which is also reflected in this review. Finally, halogen bonding in solution is briefly highlighted. Contemporary research is proving that halogen bonding is more than a solid‐state phenomenon and is now a well‐recognized weak interaction in chemistry.

Exceptionally strong (OC-) 2 N-I/N halogen bonding (XB) in a combination with C]O/H-C hydrogen bonds (HB) between N-iodosuccinimide (NIS) and hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) yielded a series of molecular crystals possessing large 1D channels. In each structure, HMTA was tetracoordinated by four NIS molecules resulting in robust [HMTA]$[NIS] 4 complexes where the observed I/N distances, ranging from 2.486 to 2.586 A, were remarkable shorter (from 29.6 to 26.7%) than the sum of the vdW radii of nitrogen and iodine atoms. Multiple C]O/H-C HBs interconnected the [HMTA]$[NIS] 4 complexes into the structures with flexible ''breathing'' host-channels. Three different host-channel structures, either oval or cylindrically shaped with volumes of about 20, 28 or 38% (700-1800A 3 ) of the unit cell volume, were obtained to match the selected guest. This adaptability was taken further by guest molecule exchange experiments, where CH 2 Cl 2 were exchanged with CCl 4 in solution and from gas-to-solid reaction. Both experiments lead to the same single-crystal to single-crystal transformation (P4 3 2 1 2, V ¼ 4642 A 3 to P4 2 /nmc, V ¼ 2324 A 3 ) with halving the unit cell volume.

No abstract

A detailed (1)H-NMR study of the anion binding properties of the 2-iodo-imidazolium receptor 1 in DMSO allows to fully attribute the observed affinities to strong charge-assisted C-I···X(-) halogen bonding (XB). Stronger binding was observed for oxoanions over halides. Phosphate, in particular, binds to 1 with an association constant of ca. 10(3) M(-1), which is particularly high for a single X-bond. A remarkably short C-I···O(-) contact is observed in the structure of the salt 1·H(2)PO(4)(-).

SummaryThe series of haloanilinium and halopyridinium salts: 4-IPhNH3Cl (1), 4-IPhNH3Br (5), 4-IPhNH3H2PO4 (6), 4-ClPhNH3H2PO4 (8), 3-IPyBnCl (9), 3-IPyHCl (10) and 3-IPyH-5NIPA (3-iodopyridinium 5-nitroisophthalate, 13), where hydrogen or/and halogen bonding represents the most relevant non-covalent interactions, has been prepared and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. This series was further complemented by extracting some relevant crystal structures: 4-BrPhNH3Cl (2, CCDC ref. code TAWRAL), 4-ClPhNH3Cl (3, CURGOL), 4-FPhNH3Cl (4, ANLCLA), 4-BrPhNH3H2PO4, (7, UGISEI), 3-BrPyHCl, (11, CIHBAX) and 3-ClPyHCl, (12, VOQMUJ) from Cambridge Structural Database for sake of comparison. Based on the X-ray data it was possible to highlight the balance between non-covalent forces acting in these systems, where the relative strength of the halogen bonding C–X···A− (X = I, Br or Cl) and the ratio between the halogen and hydrogen bonds [C–X···A− : D–H···A−] varied across the series.