organic compounds
Acta Crystallographica Section C
Crystal Structure
Communications
produce molecules of electronically excited 10-methyl-9-
acridinone (Rak et al., 1999), which emits light. The intensity
of the light is related directly to the concentration of the entity
assayed and this is the foundation for the analytical applica-
tion of chemiluminescence. Nevertheless, the use of acridin-
ium esters for labelling biomolecules entails certain
disadvantages. Although their chemiluminescence ef®ciency
in aqueous solutions is relatively high (up to 10%), they are
not very stable (Rak et al., 1999; Razawi & McCapra, 2000a,b);
they can react relatively fast with OH , which attacks the C
atom in position 9. Many attempts have been made to enhance
their resistance to hydrolysis, since this reaction competes with
the chemiluminescence pathway in alkaline media, yielding a
non-luminescent product, namely the non-excited 10-methyl-
9-acridinone (Hammond et al., 1991). Since the phenyl frag-
ment is removed during oxidation of phenyl 10-methyl-
acridinium-9-carboxylates, it is thought that the phenyl ring
substituents exert the greatest in¯uence on the ability to
chemiluminesce and on the properties of this group of
compounds (Sato, 1996; Rak et al., 1999). Wilson et al. (2001)
noted that reduction of 9-(2,6-di¯uorophenoxycarbonyl)-10-
methylacridinium (the title cation) yielded the corresponding
ester of acridan, which is not susceptible to nucleophilic
substitution (and thus hydrolysis). In this case, chemilumi-
nescence was triggered by the cathodic oxidation of the
acridan, which regenerates to the original acridinium salt
and decomposes to the electronically excited 10-methyl-9-
acridinone (a light emitter). It can thus be expected that
the presence of F atoms in the phenyl ring will improve the
resistance of such compounds to alkaline hydrolysis and
enhance their susceptibility to oxidation and their chemi-
luminescence ability. These were the premises for under-
taking investigations on the title chemiluminogens, namely
9-(2,6-di¯uorophenoxycarbonyl)-10-methylacridinium tri¯u-
oromethanesulfonate, (I), and 2,6-di¯uorophenyl acridine-9-
carboxylate, (II).
ISSN 0108-2701
9-(2,6-Difluorophenoxycarbonyl)-10-
methylacridinium trifluoromethane-
sulfonate and its precursor
2,6-difluorophenyl acridine-
9-carboxylate: CÐHÁ Á ÁO, CÐFÁ Á Áp,
SÐOÁ Á Áp and p±p stacking
interactions
Â
Artur Sikorski, Karol Krzyminski, Agnieszka Nizioøek and
.
Jerzy Bøazejowski*
Â
Â
University of Gdansk, Faculty of Chemistry, J. Sobieskiego 18, 80-952 Gdansk,
Poland
Correspondence e-mail: bla@chem.univ.gda.pl
Received 7 September 2005
Accepted 19 October 2005
Online 11 November 2005
+
The title compounds, C21H14F2NO2 ÁCF3SO3 , (I), and
C20H11F2NO2, (II), form monoclinic and triclinic crystals,
respectively. Adjacent cations of (I) are oriented in a `head-to-
tail' manner and are linked to one another via networks of CÐ
HÁ Á ÁO, CÐFÁ Á Áꢀ, SÐOÁ Á Áꢀ and multidirectional ꢀ±ꢀ inter-
actions. Adjacent molecules of (II) are also arranged in a
`head-to-tail' manner and are linked via networks of CÐ
HÁ Á ÁO and multidirectional ꢀ±ꢀ interactions. The mean planes
of the acridine moieties lie parallel in the lattices of both
compounds. The benzene rings are also parallel. However, the
acridine and di¯uorophenyl rings are mutually oriented at an
angle of 17.3 (2)ꢀ in (I) and 5.8 (2)ꢀ in (II). This mutual
orientation in various phenyl acridine-9-carboxylates and
related compounds is strongly in¯uenced by the nature of the
substituents on the phenyl fragment.
Comment
Most commercially available immunoassay tests utilizing
chemiluminescence employ derivatives of acridine-9-
carboxylic acid (Weeks et al., 1986; Rongen et al., 1994; Razawi
& McCapra, 2000a,b; Smith et al., 2000). Sensitivities at the
attomole level are available with this method, which makes
acridine-based labels more pro®table than standard radio-
In this paper, we present the results of our crystal structure
investigations, which were paralleled by laboratory studies on
the relationship between the structural and chemiluminogenic
properties of this group of compounds.
Parameters characterizing the geometry of the central ring
of the acridine moiety and the carboxyl fragment in (I) are
given in Table 1. The acridine moiety, with an average devia-
3
isotopic techniques (e.g. 125I or H) (Zomer & Jacquemijns,
2001). Among the most frequently used of these derivatives
are the phenyl esters of the 10-methylacridinium-9-carboxylic
acid cation (Dodeigne et al., 2000), although other compounds,
like hydroxamic or sulfohydroxamic esters, have been tested
in order to develop new assay options (Renotte et al., 2000).
These compounds react with H2O2 in alkaline media to
Ê
tion from planarity for its constituent atoms of 0.015 A, and
o690 # 2005 International Union of Crystallography
DOI: 10.1107/S0108270105033779
Acta Cryst. (2005). C61, o690±o694