Succinate esters: odd-even effects in melting points

Joseph, Sumy and Sathishkumar, Ranganathan (2014) Succinate esters: odd-even effects in melting points. In: ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION B-STRUCTURAL SCIENCE CRYSTAL ENGINEERING AND MATERIALS, 70 (5). pp. 839-846.

PDF act_cry_sec_10_839_2014.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (639kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Dialkyl succinates show a pattern of alternating behavior in their melting points, as the number of C atoms in the alkane side chain increases, unlike in the dialkyl oxalates Joseph et al. (2011). Acta Cryst. B67, 525-534]. Dialkyl succinates with odd numbers of C atoms in the alkyl side chain show higher melting points than the immediately adjacent analogues with even numbers. The crystal structures and their molecular packing have been analyzed for a series of dialkyl succinates with 1 - 4 C atoms in the alkyl side chain. The energy difference (Delta E) between the optimized and observed molecular conformations, density, Kitaigorodskii packing index (KPI) and C-H center dot center dot center dot O interactions are considered to rationalize this behavior. In contrast to the dialkyl oxalates where a larger number of moderately strong C-H center dot center dot center dot O interactions were characteristic of oxalates with elevated melting points, here the molecular packing and the density play a major role in raising the melting point. On moving from oxalate to succinate esters the introduction of the C2 spacer adds two activated H atoms to the asymmetric unit, resulting in the formation of stronger C-H center dot center dot center dot O hydrogen bonds in all succinates. As a result the crystallinity of long-chain alkyl substituted esters improves enormously in the presence of hydrogen bonds from activated donors.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION B-STRUCTURAL SCIENCE CRYSTAL ENGINEERING AND MATERIALS
Publisher:	WILEY-BLACKWELL
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the WILEY-BLACKWELL, 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA
Department/Centre:	Division of Chemical Sciences > Solid State & Structural Chemistry Unit
Date Deposited:	14 Nov 2014 07:26
Last Modified:	14 Nov 2014 07:26
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/50257

Actions (login required)

View Item