Solvent-controlled assembly of crystal structures: From centrosymmetric structure to noncentrosymmetric structure

Abstract

Reported here are two isomeric organic crystals and two HgI2-based coordination compounds by solvo(hydro)thermal method: [(TPTA)·H2O]n (1, Cc), [(TPTA)·H2O]n (2, Pbca), [Hg1.5I3(TPTA)0.5(CH3CN)·(H2O)0.5]n (3, P21) and [HgI2(TPTA)·H2O]n (4, P21/c) (TPTA = N,N′,N″-tris(3-pyridyl)trimesic amide). Single crystal X-ray diffraction show that they afford noncentrosymmetric and centrosymmetric structures, respectively. Note that this kind of formations can be precisely controlled by changing the reaction solvent, thus indicating a facile method towards generating noncentrosymmetric structure.