High-pressure diffraction studies of molecular organic solids. A personal view

The role of fluids in high-pressure polymorphism of drugs: different behaviour of β-chlorpropamide in different inert gas and liquid media

Compression of β-chlorpropamide gives different phases depending on the choice of non-dissolving pressure-transmitting fluid (paraffin, neon and helium).

Supramolecular interactions in the solid state

In the last few decades, supramolecular chemistry has been at the forefront of chemical research, with the aim of understanding chemistry beyond the covalent bond. Since the long-range periodicity in crystals is a product of the directionally specific short-range intermolecular interactions that are responsible for molecular assembly, analysis of crystalline solids provides a primary means to investigate intermolecular interactions and recognition phenomena. This article discusses some areas of contemporary research involving supramolecular interactions in the solid state. The topics covered are: (1) an overview and historical review of halogen bonding; (2) exploring non-ambient conditions to investigate intermolecular interactions in crystals; (3) the role of intermolecular interactions in morphotropy, being the link between isostructurality and polymorphism; (4) strategic realisation of kinetic coordination polymers by exploiting multi-interactive linker molecules. The discussion touches upon many of the prerequisites for controlled preparation and characterization of crystalline materials.

Reversible Piezofluorochromic Property and Intrinsic Structure Changes of Tetra(4-methoxyphenyl)ethylene under High Pressure

During the past decade, luminescent mechanochromism has received much attention. Despite the garnered attention, only a few studies have reported the effect of internal molecular structure change on the performance of mechanochromic fluorescence. Here, we chose tetra(4-methoxyphenyl)ethylene (TMOE) as a model molecule to study the correlation between structure and fluorescence property under a hydrostatic pressure produced by a diamond anvil cell (DAC). TMOE is a methoxy-substituted tetraphenylethylene (TPE) derivative and has a nearly centrosymmetric structure and a natural propeller shape. Ultraviolet-visible absorption and fluorescence spectra of TMOE and TPE in solution proved that the presence of methoxy groups in TMOE is responsible for the difference in fluorescence emissions of TMOE and TPE. Under a hydrostatic pressure, the in situ fluorescence spectra of TMOE at different concentrations show that the fluorescence intensity gradually weakens, accompanied by an obvious redshift. The Raman peak intensities decrease gradually, and the peaks disappear eventually with the pressure increasing. These spectral changes are attributed to the changes in the intramolecular conformation, that is, the strengthening of the weak C-H···O hydrogen bonds in TMOE molecules, which is caused by the twisted dihedral angle between the benzene ring and the carbon rigid plane of ethylene. Density functional theory simulation further confirms that the decreased dihedral angle could weaken Raman peak intensity, which is consistent with our experimental results.

High-pressure crystallography of periodic and aperiodic crystals

More than five decades have passed since the first single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments at high pressure were performed. These studies were applied historically to geochemical processes occurring in the Earth and other planets, but high-pressure crystallography has spread across different fields of science including chemistry, physics, biology, materials science and pharmacy. With each passing year, high-pressure studies have become more precise and comprehensive because of the development of instrumentation and software, and the systems investigated have also become more complicated. Starting with crystals of simple minerals and inorganic compounds, the interests of researchers have shifted to complicated metal-organic frameworks, aperiodic crystals and quasicrystals, molecular crystals, and even proteins and viruses. Inspired by contributions to the microsymposium 'High-Pressure Crystallography of Periodic and Aperiodic Crystals' presented at the 23rd IUCr Congress and General Assembly, the authors have tried to summarize certain recent results of single-crystal studies of molecular and aperiodic structures under high pressure. While the selected contributions do not cover the whole spectrum of high-pressure research, they demonstrate the broad diversity of novel and fascinating results and may awaken the reader's interest in this topic.

Comparison of shearing force and hydrostatic pressure on molecular structures of triphenylamine by fluorescence and Raman spectroscopies

Luminescent mechanochromism (e.g., shearing force and hydrostatic pressure) has been intensively studied in recent years. However, there are few reported studies on the difference of the molecular configuration changes induced by these stresses. In this study, we chose triphenylamine, C18H6N (TPA), as a model molecule to study different molecular configuration changes under shearing force and hydrostatic pressure. Triphenylamine is an organic optoelectric functional molecule with a propeller-shaped configuration, a large conjugate structure, and a single molecular fluorescence material. Fluorescence and Raman spectra of TPA were recorded in situ under different pressures (0-1.9 GPa) produced by the mechanical grinding or using a diamond anvil cell (DAC). Our results show that the crystal phase of TPA transformed to the amorphous phase by grinding, whereas no obvious phase transition was observed under hydrostatic pressure up to 1.9 GPa, indicating the stability of TPA. Hydrostatic pressure by DAC induces molecular conformation changes, and the pressure-induced emission enhancement phenomenon of TPA is observed. By analyzing the Raman spectra at high pressure, we suggest that the molecular conformation changes under pressure are caused by the twisted dihedral angle between the benzene and the nitrogen atom, which is different from the phase transformation induced by the shearing force of grinding.

Sarcosine and betaine crystals upon cooling: structural motifs unstable at high pressure become stable at low temperatures

The crystal structures of N-methyl derivatives of the simplest amino acid glycine, namely sarcosine (C3H7NO2) and betaine (C5H11NO2), were studied upon cooling by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and single-crystal polarized Raman spectroscopy. The effects of decreasing temperature and increasing hydrostatic pressure on the crystal structures were compared. In particular, we have studied the behavior upon cooling of those structural motifs in the crystals, which are involved in structural rearrangement during pressure-induced phase transitions. In contrast to their high sensitivity to hydrostatic compression, the crystals of both sarcosine and betaine are stable to cooling down to 5 K. Similarly to most α-amino acids, the crystal structures of the two compounds are most rigid upon cooling in the direction of the main structural motif, namely head-to-tail chains (linked via the strongest N-H···O hydrogen bonds and dipole-dipole interactions in the case of sarcosine, or exclusively by dipole-dipole interactions in the case of betaine). The anisotropy of linear strain in betaine does not differ much upon cooling and on hydrostatic compression, whereas this is not the case for sarcosine. Although the interactions between certain structural motifs in sarcosine and betaine weaken as a result of phase transitions induced by pressure, the same interactions strengthen when volume reduction results from cooling.

Pressure-induced oligomerization of alanine at 25 °C

Pressure-induced oligomerization of alanine was found from high-pressure experiments.

Effect of pressure on methylated glycine derivatives: relative roles of hydrogen bonds and steric repulsion of methyl groups

Infinite head-to-tail chains of zwitterions present in the crystals of all amino acids are known to be preserved even after structural phase transitions. In order to understand the role of the N-H...O hydrogen bonds linking zwitterions in these chains in structural rearrangements, the crystal structures of the N-methyl derivatives of glycine (N-methylglycine, or sarcosine, with two donors for hydrogen bonding; two polymorphs of N,N-dimethylglycine, DMG-I and DMG-II, with one donor for hydrogen bond; and N,N,N-trimethylglycine, or betaine, with no hydrogen bonds) were studied at different pressures. Methylation has not only excluded the formation of selected hydrogen bonds, but also introduced bulky mobile fragments into the structure. The effects of pressure on the systems of the series were compared with respect to distorting and switching over hydrogen bonds and inducing reorientation of the methylated fragments. Phase transitions with fragmentation of the single crystals into fine powder were observed for partially methylated N-methyl- and N,N-dimethylglycine, whereas the structural changes in betaine were continuous with some peculiar features in the 1.4-2.9 GPa pressure range and accompanied by splitting of the crystals into several large fragments. Structural rearrangements in sarcosine and betaine were strongly dependent on the rate of pressure variation: the higher the rate of increasing pressure, the lower the pressure at which the phase transition occurred.

Structure-melting relations in isomeric dibromobenzenes

1,4-Dibromobenzene melts at a considerably higher temperature than the 1,2- and 1,3-isomers. This melting-point difference is consistent with the molecular symmetry, as described by Carnelley's rule, and with the frequency of Br...Br halogen bonds. The lowest melting point of 1,3-dibromobenzene correlates with its two symmetry-independent molecules, indicating their inability to pack closely. Single crystals of 1,2- and 1,3-dibromobenzene have been grown under isochoric conditions in a diamond-anvil cell and at isobaric conditions in a glass capillary. Their structures have been determined in situ by X-ray diffraction. At 295 K 1,2-dibromobenzene crystallizes at 0.2 GPa as orthorhombic, space group Pbca, Z' = 1, and 1,3-dibromobenzene at 0.3 GPa as orthorhombic, space group P212121, Z' = 2. The same crystal phases are formed at ambient pressure by freezing these liquids below 256.15 and 248.45 K, respectively. The third isomer, 1,4-dibromobenzene, is a solid at room temperature and crystallizes as monoclinic, space group P21/a. Striking relations between the structures and melting points of the corresponding dibromobenzene and dichlorobenzene isomers have been discussed.

Low-temperature and high-pressure polymorphs of isopropyl alcohol

Single-crystal X-ray diffraction has been used to elucidate the structure of two polymorphs of isopropyl alcohol, one grown through in situ cryo-crystallisation, the other through high-pressure crystallisation.

Structure of organic solids at low temperature and high pressure

This tutorial review summarises the current state of the art in low temperature and high pressure crystallography of molecular organic and coordination compounds.

Weak hydrogen bonds formed by thiol groups in N-acetyl-(L)-cysteine and their response to the crystal structure distortion on increasing pressure

The effect of hydrostatic pressure on single crystals of N-acetyl-l-cysteine was followed at multiple pressure points from 10(-4) to 6.2 GPa with a pressure step of 0.2-0.3 GPa by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Since in the crystals of N-acetyl-l-cysteine the thiol group is involved in intermolecular hydrogen bonds not as a donor only (bonds S-H···O) but also as an acceptor (bonds N-H···S), increasing the pressure does not result in phase transitions. This makes a contrast with the polymorphs of l- and dl-cysteine, in which multiple phase transitions are observed already at relatively low hydrostatic pressures and are related to the changes in the conformation of the thiol side chains only weakly bound to the neighboring molecules in the structure and thus easily switching over the weak S-H···O and S-H···S hydrogen bonds. No phase transitions occur in N-acetyl-l-cysteine with increasing pressure, and changes in cell parameters and volume vs pressure do not reveal any peculiar features. Nevertheless, a more detailed analysis of the changes in intermolecular distances, in particular, of the geometric parameters of the hydrogen bonds based on X-ray single crystal diffraction analysis, complemented by an equally detailed study of the positions of all the significant bands in Raman spectra, allowed us to study the fine details of subtle changes in the hydrogen bond network. Thus, as pressure increases, a continuous shift of the hydrogen atom of the thiol group from one acceptor (a carboxyl group) to another acceptor (a carbonyl group) is observed. Precise single-crystal X-ray diffraction and polarized Raman spectroscopy structural data reveal the formation of a bifurcated S-H···O hydrogen bond with increasing pressure starting with ∼1.5 GPa. The analysis of the vibrational bands in Raman spectra has shown that different donor and acceptor groups start "feeling" the formation of the bifurcated S-H···O hydrogen bond in different pressure ranges. The results are discussed in relation to some of the previously published data on the effect of high pressure on the polymorphs of l-cysteine, dl-cysteine, and glutathione, that show similarity with the effects reported here for N-acetyl-l-cysteine. The results obtained in this work allow one to suggest new models for the pressure-induced structural rearrangements in the whole family of cysteine-containing crystals.

Mechanochemistry of inorganic and organic systems: what is similar, what is different?

Mechanochemistry of inorganic solids is a well-established field. In the last decade mechanical treatment has become increasingly popular as a method for achieving selective and "greener" syntheses also in organic systems. New groups and researchers enter the field of mechanochemistry, often re-discovering many of the previously known facts and effects, while at the same time neglecting other important concepts. The author of this contribution has long been involved in mechanochemical research in both inorganic and organic systems. The aim of this contribution is to provide an overview of the basic concepts of mechanochemistry in relation to inorganic and organic systems.

Crystal engineering: from molecule to crystal

How do molecules aggregate in solution, and how do these aggregates consolidate themselves in crystals? What is the relationship between the structure of a molecule and the structure of the crystal it forms? Why do some molecules adopt more than one crystal structure? Why do some crystal structures contain solvent? How does one design a crystal structure with a specified topology of molecules, or a specified coordination of molecules and/or ions, or with a specified property? What are the relationships between crystal structures and properties for molecular crystals? These are some of the questions that are being addressed today by the crystal engineering community, a group that draws from the larger communities of organic, inorganic, and physical chemists, crystallographers, and solid state scientists. This Perspective provides a brief historical introduction to crystal engineering itself and an assessment of the importance and utility of the supramolecular synthon, which is one of the most important concepts in the practical use and implementation of crystal design. It also provides a look to the future from the viewpoint of the author, and indicates some directions in which this field might be moving.

A high-pressure single-crystal to single-crystal phase transition in DL-alaninium semi-oxalate monohydrate with switching-over hydrogen bonds

A single-crystal to single-crystal transition in DL-alaninium semi-oxalate monohydrate at a pressure between 1.5 and 2.4 GPa was studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. This is the first example of a single-crystal diffraction study of a high-pressure phase transition in a crystalline amino acid salt hydrate. Selected hydrogen bonds switch over and become bifurcated, whereas the others are compressed continuously. The transition is accompanied by pronounced discontinuities in the cell parameters and volume versus pressure, although no radical changes in the molecular packing are induced. Although, in contrast to DL-alanine, in the crystal structure of the salt there are short O-H···O hydrogen bonds, the structure of the salt is more compressible. At the same time, the structure of DL-alanine does not undergo pressure-induced phase transitions, whereas the structure of DL-alaninium semi-oxalate monohydrate does, and at a relatively low pressure. The anisotropy of lattice strain for the low-pressure phase differs from that on cooling at ambient pressure; interestingly, the anisotropy of the pressure-induced compression of the high-pressure phase is quite similar to the lattice strain of the low-pressure phase on cooling.

Pressure versus temperature effects on intramolecular electron transfer in mixed-valence complexes

Mixed-valence trinuclear carboxylates, [M(3)O(O(2)CR)(6)L(3)] (M = metal, L = terminal ligand), have small differences in potential energy between the configurations M(II)M(III)M(III)⇔M(III)M(II)M(III)⇔M(III)M(III)M(II), which means that small external changes can have large structural effects, owing to the differences in coordination geometry between M(2+) and M(3+) sites (e.g., about 0.2 Å for Fe-O bond lengths). It is well-established that the electron transfer (ET) between the metal sites in these mixed-valence molecules is strongly dependent on temperature and on the specific crystal environment; however, herein, for the first time, we examine the effect of pressure on the electron transfer. Based on single-crystal X-ray diffraction data that were measured at 15, 90, 100, 110, 130, 160, and 298 K on three different crystals, we first unexpectedly found that our batch of Fe(3)O (O(2)CC(CH(3))(3))(6)(C(5)H(5)N)(3) (1) exhibited a different temperature dependence of the ET process than previous studies of compound 1 have shown. We observed a phase transition at around 130 K that was related to complete valence trapping and Hirshfeld surface analysis revealed that this phase transition was governed by a subtle competition between C-H⋅⋅⋅π and π⋅⋅⋅π intermolecular interactions. Subsequent high-pressure single-crystal X-ray diffraction at pressures of 0.15, 0.35, 0.45, 0.74, and 0.96 GPa revealed that it was not possible to trigger the phase transition (i.e., valence trapping) by a reduction of the unit-cell volume, owing to this external pressure. We conclude that modulation of the ET process requires anisotropic changes in the intermolecular interactions, which occur when various directional chemical bonds are affected differently by changes in temperature, but not by the application of pressure.

Exploring structural and optical properties of fluorescent proteins by squeezing: modeling high-pressure effects on the mStrawberry and mCherry red fluorescent proteins

Molecular dynamics calculations of pressure effects on mStrawberry and mCherry fluorescent proteins are reported. The simulations reveal that mStrawberry has much floppier structure at atmospheric pressure, as evidenced by larger backbone fluctuations and the coexistence of two conformers that differ by Ser146 orientation. Consequently, pressure increase has a larger effect on mStrawberry, making its structure more rigid and reducing the population of one of the conformers. The most significant effect of pressure increase is in the hydrogen-bonding network between the chromophore and the nearby residues. The quantum-mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations of excitation energies in mStrawberry explain the observed blue shift and identify Lys70 as the residue that has the most pronounced effect on the spectra. The results suggest that pressure increase causes an initial increase of fluorescence yield only for relatively floppy fluorescent proteins, whereas the fluorescent proteins that have more rigid structures have quantum yields close to their maximum. The results suggest that a low quantum yield in fluorescent proteins is dynamic in nature and depends on the range of thermal motions of the chromophore and fluctuations in the H-bonding network rather than on their average structure.

X-ray diffraction and Raman study of DL-alanine at high pressure: revision of phase transitions

The effect of pressure on DL-alanine has been studied by X-ray powder diffraction (up to 8.3 GPa), single-crystal X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy (up to ∼ 6 GPa). No structural phase transitions have been observed. At ∼ 1.5–2 GPa, cell parameters b and c become accidentally equal to each other, but the space-group symmetry does not change. There is no phase transition between 1.7 and 2.3 GPa, contrary to what has been reported earlier [Belo et al. (2010). Vibr. Spectrosc. 54, 107–111]. The presence of the second phase transition, which was claimed to appear within the pressure range from 6.0 to 7.3 GPa (Belo et al., 2010), is also argued. The changes in the Raman spectra have been shown to be continuous in all the pressure ranges studied.

Effect of pressure on crystalline L- and DL-serine: revisited by a combined single-crystal X-ray diffraction at a laboratory source and polarized Raman spectroscopy study

Information on the effect of pressure on hydrogen bonds, which could be derived from single-crystal X-ray diffraction at a laboratory source and polarized Raman spectroscopy, has been compared. L-Serine and DL-serine were selected for this case study. The role of hydrogen bonds in pressure-induced phase transitions in the first system and in the structural stability of the second one are discussed. Non-monotonic distortion of selected hydrogen bonds in the pressure range below ∼ 1–2 GPa, a change in the compression mechanism at ∼ 2–3 GPa, and the evidence of formation of bifurcated N—H...O hydrogen bonds in DL-serine at ∼ 3–4 GPa are considered.

Effect of high pressure on the typical supramolecular structure of guanidinium methanesulfonate

We report the high-pressure response of guanidinium methanesulfonate (C(NH(2))(3)(+)·CH(3)SO(3)(-), GMS) using in situ Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques up to the pressures of ~11 GPa. GMS exhibits the representative supramolecular structure of two-dimensional (2D) hydrogen-bonded bilayered motifs under ambient conditions. On the basis of the experimental results, two phase transitions were identified at 0.6 and 1.5 GPa, respectively. The first phase transition, which shows the reconstructive feature, is ascribed to the rearrangements of hydrogen-bonded networks, resulting in the symmetry transformation from C2/m to Pnma. The second one proves to be associated with local distortions of methyl groups, accompanied by the symmetry transformation from Pnma to Pna2(1). The cooperativity of hydrogen bonding, electrostatic, and van der Waals interactions, as well as mechanisms for the phase transitions is discussed by means of the local nature of the structure.

The XIPHOS diffraction facility for extreme sample conditions

XIPHOS has been developed to expand home laboratory facilities closer to those found at central facilities, offering extremes of sample environment and flux densities far greater than standard laboratory sources. The system has a minimum operating temperature of 1.9 K, and has a direct-drive molybdenum rotating-anode generator coupled with the latest multilayer optics. XIPHOS has been specifically designed to accommodate various sample environments and is now operational. Furthermore, it has been calibrated with structural phase transitions from 14 to 148 K. Results are also presented from a full low-temperature data collection ofm-nitroaniline to demonstrate the quality of results attainable from XIPHOS.

Pressure-induced phase transitions in L-alanine, revisited

The effect of pressure on L-alanine has been studied by X-ray powder diffraction (up to 12.3 GPa), single-crystal X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and optical microscopy (up to ∼ 6 GPa). No structural phase transitions have been observed. At ∼ 2 GPa the cell parameters a and b become accidentally equal to each other, but without a change in space-group symmetry. Neither of two transitions reported by others (to a tetragonal phase at ∼ 2 GPa and to a monoclinic phase at ∼ 9 GPa) was observed. The changes in cell parameters were continuous up to the highest measured pressures and the cells remained orthorhombic. Some important changes in the intermolecular interactions occur, which also manifest themselves in the Raman spectra. Two new orthorhombic phases could be crystallized from a MeOH/EtOH/H2O pressure-transmitting mixture in the pressure range 0.8–4.7 GPa, but only if the sample was kept at these pressures for at least 1–2 d. The new phases converted back to L-alanine on decompression. Judging from the Raman spectra and cell parameters, the new phases are most probably not L-alanine but its solvates.

Isothermal compressibility of macromolecular crystals and macromolecules derived from high-pressure X-ray crystallography

The compressibility of several nucleic acid and globular protein crystals has been investigated by high-pressure macromolecular crystallography. Further, crystal structures at four different pressures allowed the determination of the intrinsic compressibilityversuspressure of d(GGTATACC)2and hen egg-white lysozyme. For lysozyme, the values for the intrinsic molecular compressibility at atmospheric pressure and the nonlinearity index were 0.070 GPa−1and 8.15, respectively. On the basis of two crystal structures at atmospheric and high pressure, similar, albeit less complete, information was derived for d(CGCGAATTCGCG)2and bovine erythrocyte Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase. Using these data and accurate calculations of the solvent-excluded volume, the apparent solvent compressibility in the crystalline state was determined as a function of pressure and compared with results from a simple model that assumes invariant unit-cell content, with the conclusion that solvent compressibility was abnormal for three out of the five crystals investigated. Experimental results suggest that macromolecular crystals submitted to high pressure may have a variable unit-cell mass due to solvent exchange with the surrounding pool, as already observed in other hydrated crystals such as zeolites.