Three tripod molecules, tris(2-methoxy-5-nitrobenzyl)phosphine oxide (1), tris(2-butoxy-3-methyl-5-nitrobenzyl)phosphine oxide (2), and tris(3-nitrobenzyl)amine (TNBA), were synthesized and crystallized. The structures of 1, 2, and their comparison (TNBA) were determined by X-ray crystallography. It is noteworthy that compound 1 interacted with adjacent molecules via - stacking and CH··· interactions to yield an open supramolecular network with the porosity P in 8.9%, whereas compound 2 gathered closely to form an open-dimer capsule by sixfold NO··· and triple CH···O interactions, which showed a rare example of a stable in, out-invertomer of phosphine inversion existing in open-dimers. A series of columns were built and arranged side by side by these weak interactions. By contrast, TNBA crystallized to form a 2D network maintained by CH···O and CH··· interactions. It seems minor changes of the chemical structure may cause large differences in the crystal structure and interactions in crystal engineering.
tripod molecule, supramolecular network, open-dimer capsule, weak interaction