Diiodoacetylene, C 2 I 2 , is the smallest ditopic halogen bond donor other than I 2 or other dihalogens. A convenient synthesis of diiodoacetylene from the common Sonagashira coupling reagent Me 3 SiChCH, is described. The halogen-bonded adducts of C 2 I 2 with dimethylformamide (DMF), pyrazine (pyz) and 1,4-diazabicyclooctane (dabco) have been characterised by X-ray crystallography. All adopt 1D halogen-bonded chains linked via short C-I/O [I/O 2.834(4)-2.888(4) A; C-I/O > 170 ] or C-I/N [I/N 2.715(3)-2.832(7) A; C-I/N > 175 ] interactions. Attempts to synthesise the adduct of C 2 I 2 with hexamethylenetetramine (hmta) resulted in isolation and crystallographic characterisation of the adduct of C 2 I 4 $hmta, indicating decomposition of C 2 I 2 to yield C 2 I 4 in solution. The adduct comprises two independent C 2 I 4 molecules that act, respectively, as tetratopic and ditopic halogen bond donors forming C-I/N interactions [I/N 2.948(7)-2.999(8) A; C-I/N > 165 ], occupying three of the four nitrogen sites on htma. The remaining nitrogen sites engage in N/C(p) interactions directed orthogonal to the plane of the ditopic C 2 I 4 molecules. Separate surveys of halogen bonds formed by diiodo(poly)alkynes I(ChC) n I (n ¼ 1-3) and by C 2 I 4 molecules indicate that C-I/N halogen bonds are shorter, when normalised for van der Waals radii, and, by inference, stronger than halogen bonds involving other acceptor groups, and demonstrates that C sp -I/N halogen bonds are generally shorter C sp 2-I/N halogen bonds.