The synthesis and characterization of the multicomponent crystals formed by 2,2'-thiodiacetic acid (H2tda) and 2,6-diaminopurine (Hdap) or N9-(2-hydroxyethyl)adenine (9heade) are detailed in this report. These crystals exist in a salt rather than a co-crystal form, as confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffractometry, which reflects their ionic nature. This analysis confirmed proton transfer from the 2,2'-thiodiacetic acid to the basic groups of the coformers. The new multicomponent crystals have molecular formulas [(H9heade+)(Htda-)] 1 and [(H2dap+)2(tda2-)]·2H2O 2. These were also characterized using FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR and mass spectroscopies, elemental analysis, and thermogravimetric/differential scanning calorimetry (TG/DSC) analyses. In the crystal packing the ions interact with each other via O-H⋯N, O-H⋯O, N-H⋯O, and N-H⋯N hydrogen bonds, generating cyclic hydrogen-bonded motifs with graph-set notation of R22(16), R22(10), R32(10), R33(10), R22(9), R32(8), and R42(8), to form different supramolecular homo- and hetero-synthons. In addition, in the crystal packing of 2, pairs of diaminopurinium ions display a strong anti-parallel π,π-stacking interaction, characterized by short inter-centroids and interplanar distances (3.39 and 3.24 Å, respectively) and a fairly tight angle (17.5°). These assemblies were further analyzed energetically using DFT calculations, MEP surface analysis, and QTAIM characterization.
Keywords: 2,2′-thiodiacetic acid; 2,6-diaminopurine; N9-(2-hydroxyethyl)adenine; crystal structures; molecular salts; proton transfer prediction.