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The solid-state structures of a series of alkali metal salts of the croconate dianion (C(5)O(5)(2-)) and of croconic acid (H(2)C(5)O(5)) have been determined. The alkali metal croconates were obtained by ring contraction of rhodizonic acid (H(2)C(6)O(6)), upon treatment with alkali metal hydroxides and recrystallisation from water. The novel species Na(2)C(5)O(5) x 2H(2)O, Rb(2)C(5)O(5) and Cs(2)C(5)O(5), as well as the mixed hydrogencroconate/croconate salt K(3)(HC(5)O(5))(C(5)O(5)) small middle dot2 H(2)O are described and compared with the Li(+), K(+) and NH(4)(+) salts. Single crystals of croconic acid were obtained by crystallisation of croconic acid in the presence of HCl. Crystal structure determinations showed that the C(5)O(5)(2-) ions tend to organize themselves in columns. The interplanar separations lie in the narrow range 3.12-3.42 A and do not necessarily reflect the presence of pi-stacking interactions. It is argued that the small interplanar separation is the result of a compromise between packing of flat croconate units and the spherical cations together with the water molecules that fill the coordination spheres of the alkali metal atoms.

The O-H...O interaction formed by the anions HCO(3)(-) and CO(3)(2-) has been investigated on the basis of data retrieved from the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD) and by means of ab initio computations. It has been shown that the O-H...O separations associated with HCO(3)(-)...(3)(2-) interactions are shorter than those found in crystals containing hydrogen carbonate monoanions such as HCO(3)(-)...HCO(3)(-). Ab initio MP2/6-311G++(2d,2p) computations on the crystal Na(3)(HCO(3))(CO(3)).2H(2)O have shown that the interaction between the monoanion donor and the dianion acceptor, for example HCO(3)(-)...CO(3)(2-), is more repulsive than that between singly charged ions, for example HCO(3)(-)...HCO(3)(-), but is largely overcompensated for by anion-cation electrostatic attractions. The shortening of the (-)O-H...O(2-) interaction relative to the (-)O-H...O(-) interaction has been explained as a consequence of the increased charge compression, that is of the stronger cation-anion interactions established by the CO(3)(2-) dianions with respect to those established by monoanions, and does not reflect an increase in the strength of the (-)O-H ...O(-) interaction. To expand the structural sample in the crystal packing analysis, the structure of the novel mixed salt K(2)Na(HCO(3))(CO(3)).2H(2)O has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and compared with the structure of the salt Na(3)(HCO(3))(CO(3)).2H(2)O used in the computations.

The asymmetric synthesis of 1,2-diamino-4,5-dimethylcyclohexanes was achieved by the zirconium-catalyzed and -promoted reductive cyclization of N,N'-di[(S)-1-phenylethyl]-4(R),5(R)-diamino-1,7-octadiene. The reaction of the diene with 5 equiv of butylmagnesium chloride and 0.1 mol % of bis(cyclopentadienyl)zirconium dichloride in diethyl ether at 0-20 degrees C gave mainly the 1(R),2(R)-diamino-4(S),5(S)-dimethylcyclohexane derivative having C(2) symmetry, but the reaction with 4 equiv of dibutylzirconocene in tetrahydrofuran at -78 to -50 degrees C gave prevalently the diastereomer with the 4(R),5(S) configuration. By reductive cleavage of the auxiliary, followed by sulfonylation reaction, 1(R),2(R)-di(4-toluenesulfonyl)amino)-4(S),5(S)-dimethylcyclohexane was prepared.

Cooperative strong negatively charged and neutral O-H⋅⋅⋅O as well as weak charge-assisted C-H δ+ ⋅⋅⋅O δ- hydrogen-bonding interactions have been utilized for the crystal engineering of organometallic Fe II /Co III and Fe II /Cr I sandwich complexes. A section of the structure of [(η 6 -C 6 H 6 ) 2 Cr] + {[(η 5 -C 5 H 4 COOH)(η 5 -C 5 H 4 COO)Fe][(η 5 -C 5 H 4 COOH) 2 Fe] 0.5 } - is shown in the picture., (© 1998 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim, Fed. Rep. of Germany.)