A series of nine cocrystals derived from m-halogenobenzoic
acids and m-halogenopyridines (XbzacH–X’py, X, X’ = Cl, Br, I) have been crystallized and their crystal
structures are determined. All nine cocrystals comprise XbzacH–X’py molecular complexes with the acid carboxyl group hydrogen bonded
to the pyridine nitrogen atom. The four cocrystals in which iodine
(the strongest halogen bond donor) is absent are isostructural and
crystallize in the monoclinic
P
21/c space group with the acid–pyridine
complexes disordered over inversion centers, and the halogen atoms
(Cl, Br) do not participate in any significant intermolecular interactions.
The four cocrystals in which either the acid or the pyridine moiety
has an iodine substituent are ordered and comprise chains of XbzacH–X’py molecular complexes interconnected
by I···O halogen bonds involving the carbonyl oxygen
atom of the XbzacH molecule. However, when both halogen
atoms are iodine (IbzacH–Ipy), the iodine atoms
no longer participate in I···O halogen bonds but rather
form only type II I···I contacts, resulting again in
a disordered structure. The dominant interaction between neighboring XbzacH–X’py molecular complexes in the disordered
structures are C–H···O hydrogen bonding contacts
involving the carboxyl oxygen and aromatic hydrogen atoms. The DFT
studies of the electrostatic potential of the hydrogen-bonded XbzacH–X’py complexes have shown the hydrogen
atoms of the pyridine atom to be considerably more positive (by ca.
50–90 kJ mol–1
e
–1) than those of benzoic acid, making it probable that the C–H···O
hydrogen bonding contacts form solely with pyridine hydrogen atoms,
and consequently that the structures comprise random stacks of ordered
C–H···O bonded layers (in the four structures XbzacH–X’py, X, X’ = Cl, Br) and chains (in IbzacH–Ipy). For a more detailed comparison of the ordered and disordered structures,
the cocrystals were also studied by solid-state 13C and 15N CP-MAS NMR spectroscopy and DSC measurements.