Crystal structure of methyl,2-mercaptopyrimidinatomercury(II)

Abstract

Methyl,2-mercaptopyrimidinatomercury(II) was synthesized from methylmercuric hydroxide and 2-mercaptopyrimidine in aqueous solution. The crystal is orthorhombic with a = 4.063(2), b = 9.901(4), c = 18.808(15) Å, Dm = 2.88(1), Z = 4, Dc = 2.867 g cm−3, space group P212121. The structure was solved by the heavy atom method using 605 diffractometer measured reflections. The final R factor was 0.069. The key bond lengths and angles are: Hg—S, 2.39(2) Å, Hg—CH3, 2.13(6) Å, [Formula: see text] 174°. The CH3HgS— group bends out of the plane of the pyrimidine ring and the Hg atom interacts rather strongly with one of the ring nitrogens with an Hg—N distance of 2.83 Å. However, the Hg … N interaction is very labile in solution, since the two hydrogen atoms in the meta positions are equivalent from the 1H nmr spectra in both CDCl3 and DMSO solutions. The solution of the compound is not optically active.