Loose crystals engineered by mismatched halogen bonds in hexachloroethane.

Distortions of the directional requirements in halogen…halogen contacts between hexachloroethane (HCE), C2Cl6, molecules lead to a loose crystal under ambient conditions. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction shows that the orthorhombic HCE phase of space group Pnma, with the molecules in the staggered conformation, extends at least from 85 to 305 K and from 0.1 MPa to 5.42 GPa. At ambient pressure, all intermolecular distances are longer than the sum of van der Waals radii, reached only at the pressure of ca. 1.2 GPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]