In order to test
metal diketonates as potential acceptors of bifurcated
halogen bonds, the series of acetylacetonates (acac)
of divalent cations Cu(acac)2 (1), Pd(acac)2 (2), VO(acac)2 (3), Ni(acac)2(H2O)2 (4), Co(acac)2(H2O)2 (5), and Zn
(acac)2(H2O) (6) were
cocrystallized with 1,4-diiodotetrafluorobenzene (tfib) and 1,4-dibromotetrafluorobenzene (tfbb) as halogen
donors. This has yielded a series of 10 cocrystals, tfib having formed cocrystals with all six acceptors and tfbb with all except for 4 and 5. In eight
cocrystals a pair of acac oxygen atoms acts as a bifurcated
halogen bond acceptor, the bond being symmetric in cocrystals of 1 and 2 and asymmetric in cocrystals of 3 and 6. The only cocrystals in which a halogen
bond was formed with alternative acceptor sites were cocrystals of tfib with 4 and 5, where coordinated
water molecules form hydrogen bonds with all available acac oxygen atoms, leaving only the water molecules themselves as halogen
bond acceptors. The favorability of the bifurcated halogen bond was
also confirmed by QM computations, which have shown the bifurcated
bonds to be the most favorable interactions in vacuo, with bond energies
in the range of 29–37 kJ mol–1 for tfib and 20–25 kJ mol–1 for tfbb. This also reflects on the thermal stability of the cocrystals
of 1–3 (which do not contain coordinated
water) with tfib, which melt/decompose between ca. 180
and 220 °C.