organic compounds
Acta Crystallographica Section C
Crystal Structure
al., 1995), allowing reasonably good control over the resulting
structures.
Communications
It has been observed that the strength of directional forces
depends on the nature and polarity of the donor and acceptor
groups. Enhancement of hydrogen-bond strength by reson-
ance or ionic charge has long been recognized (Ferretti et al.,
ISSN 0108-2701
Supramolecular association in proton-
transfer adducts containing benz-
amidinium cations. I. Four molecular
salts with uracil derivatives
´
´
ˇ
2004; Ward, 2005; Kojic-Prodic & Molcanov, 2008, and refer-
ences therein). The protonated form of benzamidine appears
to be a very promising building block in supramolecular
chemistry because its multiple hydrogen-bond donors can
interact with anions having multiple acceptor sites, such as
carboxylates. Although it is difficult to predict the formation
of a hydrogen bond between a potential donor D—H group
and a potential acceptor A in a given system, a probability of
formation (Pm) can be defined. This is the fraction of D—
Hꢀ ꢀ ꢀA hydrogen bonds (or hydrogen-bond arrays) out of the
total number of such hydrogen bonds that could be formed.
From the probabilities of formation of 75 bimolecular ring
motifs that have been determined (Allen et al., 1999), the
rather poor performance of the amidinium–carboxylate
heterodimer (Pm = 0.51) can be explained by strong compe-
tition of alternative motifs. In contrast, in the case of salts
containing the benzamidinium cation, although only a few
structures have been reported, the R22(8) (Etter et al., 1990;
Bernstein et al., 1995; Motherwell et al., 1999) one-dimensional
heterosynthon with carboxylate or other oxygenate anions
Gustavo Portalone
Chemistry Department, ‘Sapienza’ University of Rome, Piazzale A. Moro 5,
I-00185 Rome, Italy
Correspondence e-mail: g.portalone@caspur.it
Received 3 March 2010
Accepted 3 May 2010
Online 13 May 2010
Four organic salts, namely benzamidinidium orotate (2,6-dioxo-
1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyrimidine-4-carboxylate) hemihydrate,
+
C7H9N2 ꢀC5H3N2O4ꢁꢀ0.5H2O (BenzamH+ꢀOrꢁ), (I), benzami-
dinium isoorotate (2,4-dioxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidine-5-
+
carboxylate) trihydrate, C7H9N2 ꢀC5H3N2O4ꢁꢀ3H2O (Benz-
amH+ꢀIsorꢁ), (II), benzamidinium diliturate (5-nitro-2,6-di-
´
predominates (Kratochvıl et al., 1987; Portalone, 2008a; Kolev
+
oxo-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyrimidin-4-olate) dihydrate, C7H9N2 ꢀ-
et al., 2009). These acid–base complexes are usually arranged
in a dimeric motif, similar to that found in carboxylic acid
dimers, via N+—Hꢀ ꢀ ꢀOꢁ (ꢂ)-charge-assisted hydrogen bonds
(CAHB) (Gilli & Gilli, 2009), provided that ÁpKa [ÁpKa =
pKa(base) ꢁ pKa(acid), where the pKa are for aqueous solu-
tions] is sufficiently large. The value of ÁpKa is often used to
predict whether a salt or cocrystal can be expected for two
components (Johnson & Rumon, 1965; Childs et al., 2007), but
some exceptions have been reported (Herbstein, 2005;
Molcanov & Kojic-Prodic, 2010). A value of ÁpKa < 0 is
generally considered to be associated with systems that form
cocrystals, ÁpKa > 3 results in salts, while 0 < ÁpKa < 3 can
produce cocrystals, salts or mixed ionization complexes.
Another possibility is offered by coupling benzamidinium
cations with counter-ions containing the NO2 group as
hydrogen-bond acceptor in complementary bimolecular
(DD)ꢀ(AA) heterosynthons. Although nitro groups are
intrinsically poorer acceptors of hydrogen bonds than
carboxylates (Gagnon et al., 2007), they form a variety of weak
supramolecular synthons with different types of donors (e.g.
O—H, aniline N—H, C C—H and C—Hal) (Robinson et al.,
2000; Thallapally et al., 2003; Thomas et al., 2005). Conse-
quently, the preference of a particular class of donor, such as
the protonated analogues of benzamidine, to form symmetric
motifs with nitro groups could rely on the characteristics of the
hydrogen-bond donor.
C4H2N3O5ꢁꢀ2H2O (BenzamH+ꢀDilꢁ), (III), and benzamidin-
ium 5-nitrouracilate (5-nitro-2,4-dioxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-
+
ꢁ
pyrimidin-1-ide), C7H9N2 ꢀC4H2N3O4
(BenzamH+ꢀNitꢁ),
(IV), have been synthesized by a reaction between benzami-
dine (benzenecarboximidamide or Benzam) and the appro-
priate carboxylic acid. Proton transfer occurs to the
benzamidine imino N atom. In all four acid–base adducts,
the asymmetric unit consists of one tautomeric aminooxo
anion (Orꢁ, Isorꢁ, Dilꢁ and Nitꢁ) and one monoprotonated
benzamidinium cation (BenzamH+), plus one-half (which lies
across a twofold axis), three and two solvent water molecules
in (I), (II) and (III), respectively. Due to the presence of
protonated benzamidine, these acid–base complexes form
supramolecular synthons characterized by N+—Hꢀ ꢀ ꢀOꢁ and
N+—Hꢀ ꢀ ꢀNꢁ (ꢂ)-charge-assisted hydrogen bonds (CAHB).
ˇ
´
´
Comment
An invaluable approach for supramolecular synthesis is the
exploitation of the principles of molecular self-assembly. This
relies heavily on the ability of certain functional groups to self-
interact in a noncovalent fashion and to retain a specific and
persistent pattern or motif, the supramolecular synthon.
Among the functional groups used most frequently for
supramolecular synthesis and crystal engineering are carboxyl
groups and their derivatives. These functions are capable of
forming robust and directional hydrogen bonds, and aggregate
in the solid state as dimers, catemers and double-bridged
motifs (Leiserowitz, 1976; Bernstein et al., 1994; Kolotuchin et
In this study, an analysis of solid-state heteromeric and
homomeric hydrogen-bond interactions has been carried out
on four acid–base complexes formed by benzamidine
(Benzam) with orotic acid (Or), isoorotic acid (Isor), dilituric
Acta Cryst. (2010). C66, o295–o301
doi:10.1107/S0108270110016252
# 2010 International Union of Crystallography o295