A comparative study of the crystal structures of tetrahalogenated hydroquinones and γ-hydroquinone

γ-Hydroquinone (1) and its tetrafluoro, tetrachloro and tetrabromo derivatives (2), (3) and (4) adopt crystal structures that have an almost invariant system of O—H...O hydrogen bonds. However, within this O—H...O framework, the four structures display variations that are characteristic of the C—H, C—F, C—Cl and C—Br groups. In the parent compound (1) aromatic rings are packed with a herringbone geometry, whilst in the halogenated derivatives (3) and (4), polarization-type halogen...halogen contacts are optimized. The fluoro derivative (2) is exceptional in that neither of the above possibilities is adopted, even though the O—H...O scaffolding does not per se prohibit either of them geometrically.