Crystalline inclusion compounds of a new diol host featuring a combination of anthracene and 9-fluorenol units

Abstract

The diol host compound 2 has been synthesised and its behaviour to form crystalline inclusion compounds is discussed in comparison with an analogous ethynylene spaced host compound 1. The rotation around the fluorenol -anthracene bonds in 2 is highly restricted as indicated by solution NMR spectroscopy, molecular mechanics and semi-empirical calculations. Single-crystal X-ray structures of the inclusion complexes of 2 with 1-BuOH (2a), morpholine/H 2 O (2b) and DMSO (2c) are in agreement with the bent geometry of the anthracene ring system suggested by the calculations. The structures exhibit specific modes of hydrogen bond interactions.