Crystal structures of N -[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]benzamide and N -(4-methoxyphenyl)benzamide at 173 K: a study of the energetics of conformational changes due to crystal packing

• Published in: Acta crystallographica. Section E, Crystallographic communications Vol. 78; no. 3; pp. 297 - 305
• Main Authors: Pearson, Wayne H., Urban, Joseph J., MacArthur, Amy H. Roy, Lin, Shirley, Cabrera, Dylan W. L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Union of Crystallography 01-03-2022
• Subjects: aryl amides; crystal structure; dft calculations; hirshfeld surfaces; intermolecular forces; molecular interaction energies
• ISSN: 2056-9890; 2056-9890
• DOI: 10.1107/S2056989022000950

As a part of our study of the syntheses of aryl amides, the crystal structures of two benzamides were determined from single-crystal X-ray data at 173 K. Both crystal structures contain molecular units as asymmetric units with no solvent in the unit cells. Crystal structure I,
TFMP
, is the result of the crystallization of
N
-[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]benzamide, C
14
H
10
F
3
NO. Crystal structure II,
MOP
, is composed of
N
-(4-methoxyphenyl)benzamide, C
14
H
13
NO
2
, units.
TFMP
is triclinic, space group
P
\overline{1}, consisting of two molecules in the unit cell related by the center of symmetry.
MOP
is monoclinic, space group
P
2
1
/
c
, consisting of four molecules in the unit cell. Both types of molecules contain three planar regions; a phenyl ring, an amide planar region, and a
para
-substituted phenyl ring. The orientations of these planar regions within the asymmetric units are compared to their predicted orientations, in isolation, from DFT calculations. The aryl rings are tilted approximately 60° with respect to each other in both experimentally determined structures, as compared to 30° in the DFT results. These conformational changes result in more favorable environments for N—H...O hydrogen bonding and aryl ring π-stacking in the crystal structures. Intermolecular interactions were examined by Hirshfeld surface analysis and quantified by calculating molecular interaction energies. The results of this study demonstrate that both hydrogen bonding and dispersion are essential to the side-by-side stacking of molecular units in these crystal structures. Weaker dispersion interactions along the axial directions of the molecules reveal insight into the melting mechanisms of these crystals.