A phase transition from monoclinic C2 with Z′ = 1 to triclinic P1 with Z′ = 4 for the quasiracemate l‐2‐aminobutyric acid–d‐methionine (1/1)

Racemates of hydrophobic amino acids with linear side chains are known to undergo a unique series of solid‐state phase transitions that involve sliding of molecular bilayers upon heating or cooling. Recently, this behaviour was shown to extend also to quasiracemates of two different amino acids with opposite handedness [Görbitz & Karen (2015). J. Phys. Chem. B, 119 , 4975–4984]. Previous investigations are here extended to an l ‐2‐aminobutyric acid–d ‐methionine (1/1) co‐crystal, C₄H₉NO₂·C₅H₁₁NO₂S. The significant difference in size between the –CH₂CH₃ and –CH₂CH₂SCH₃ side chains leads to extensive disorder at room temperature, which is essentially resolved after a phase transition at 229 K to an unprecedented triclinic form where all four d ‐methionine molecules in the asymmetric unit have different side‐chain conformations and all three side‐chain rotamers are used for the four partner l ‐2‐aminobutyric acid molecules.     

l‐Phenyl­alanine–4‐nitro­phenol (1/1)

In the 1:1 adduct formed between l ‐phenyl­alanine and 4‐nitro­phenol [alternative IUPAC name: (2S)‐2‐ammonio‐3‐phenyl­propanoate–4‐nitro­phenol (1/1)], C₉H₁₁NO₂·C₆H₅NO₃, the l ‐phenyl­alanine mol­ecule is in the zwitterionic state. The overall structure is stabilized via strong hydrogen bonding between polar zones and van der Waals inter­actions between non‐polar zones, which alternate with the polar zones.     

N‐(l‐2‐Aminobutyryl)‐l‐alanine and 2‐(l‐alanylamino)‐l‐butyric acid 0.33‐hydrate

The crystal structure of N‐(l ‐2‐amino­butyryl)‐l ‐alanine, C₇H₁₄N₂O₃, is closely related to the structure of l ‐alanyl‐l ‐alanine, both being tetragonal, while the retro‐analogue 2‐(l ‐alanyl­amino)‐l ‐butyric acid 0.33‐hydrate, C₇H₁₄N₂O₃·­0.33H₂O, forms a new type of molecular columnar structure with three peptide mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit.     

l‐Methioninium chloride and l‐seleno­methioninium chloride at 103 K

The crystal structures of the title compounds, (S)‐1‐carboxy‐3‐(methyl­sulfanyl)­propanaminium chloride, C₅H₁₂NO₂S⁺·Cl⁻, and (S)‐1‐carboxy‐3‐(methyl­selanyl)­propanaminium chloride, C₅H₁₂NO₂Se⁺·Cl⁻, are isomorphous. The proton­ated l ‐methionine and l ‐seleno­methionine mol­ecules have almost identical conformations and create very similar contacts with the Cl⁻ anions in the crystal structures of both compounds. The amino acid cations and the Cl⁻ anions are linked viaN—H⋯Cl⁻ and O—H⋯Cl⁻ hydrogen bonds.     

The monohydrates of the four polar dipeptides l‐seryl‐l‐asparagine,l‐seryl‐l‐tyrosine,l‐tryptophanyl‐l‐serine and l‐tyrosyl‐l‐tryptophan

The crystal structures of the four dipeptides l ‐seryl‐l ‐asparagine monohydrate, C₇H₁₃N₃O₅·H₂O, l ‐seryl‐l ‐tyrosine monohydrate, C₁₂H₁₆N₂O₅·H₂O, l ‐tryptophanyl‐l ‐serine monohydrate, C₁₄H₁₇N₃O₄·H₂O, and l ‐tyrosyl‐l ‐tryptophan monohydrate, C₂₀H₂₁N₃O₄·H₂O, are dominated by extensive hydrogen‐bonding networks that include cocrystallized solvent water molecules. Side‐chain conformations are discussed on the basis of previous observations in dipeptides. These four dipeptide structures greatly expand our knowledge on dipeptides incorporating polar residues such as serine, asparagine, threonine, tyrosine and tryptophan.     

New hydrophobic L‐amino acid salts: maleates of L‐leucine,L‐isoleucine and L‐norvaline

Crystals of maleates of three amino acids with hydrophobic side chains [L‐leucenium hydrogen maleate, C₆H₁₄NO₂⁺·C₄H₃O₄⁻, (I), L‐isoleucenium hydrogen maleate hemihydrate, C₆H₁₄NO₂⁺·C₄H₃O₄⁻·0.5H₂O, (II), and L‐norvalinium hydrogen maleate–L‐norvaline (1/1), C₅H₁₁NO₂⁺·C₄H₃O₄⁻·C₅H₁₂NO₂, (III)], were obtained. The new structures contain C₂²(12) chains, or variants thereof, that are a common feature in the crystal structures of amino acid maleates. The L‐leucenium salt is remarkable due to a large number of symmetrically non‐equivalent units (Z′ = 3). The L‐isoleucenium salt is a hydrate despite the fact that L‐isoleucine is a nonpolar hydrophobic amino acid (previously known amino acid maleates formed hydrates only with lysine and histidine, which are polar and hydrophilic). The L‐norvalinium salt provides the first example where the dimeric cation L‐Nva...L‐NvaH⁺ was observed. All three compounds have layered noncentrosymmetric structures. Preliminary tests have shown the presence of the second harmonic generation (SGH) effect for all three compounds.     

Ammonium N‐acetyl‐l‐threoninate and methyl­ammonium N‐acetyl‐l‐threoninate

Ammonium N‐acetyl‐l ‐threoninate, NH₄⁺·C₆H₁₀NO₄^?, and methyl­ammonium N‐acetyl‐l ‐threoninate, CH₆N⁺·­C₆H₁₀NO₄^?, crystallize in the orthorhombic P2₁2₁2₁ and monoclinic P2₁ space groups, respectively. The two crystals present the same packing features consisting of infinite ribbons of screw‐related N‐acetyl‐l ‐threoninate anions linked together through pairs of hydrogen bonds. The cations interconnect neighbouring ribbons of anions involving all the nitrogen‐H atoms in three‐dimensional networks of hydrogen bonds. The hydrogen‐bond patterns include asymmetric `three‐centred' systems. In both structures, the Thr side chain is in the favoured (g^?g⁺) conformation.     

Hydrogen‐bonding features in the 1:2 adduct of 4‐aminobenzoic acid and l‐proline

The title adduct, 4‐aminobenzoic acid–l ‐proline–water (1/2/1), C₇H₇NO₂·2C₅H₉NO₂·H₂O, contains two independent proline chains with a C(5) motif, each of the head‐to‐tail type and each held together by N—H...O hydrogen bonds, propagated parallel to the b and c axes of the unit cell. Thus, the proline residues aggregate parallel to the ac plane. 4‐Aminobenzoic acid (PABA) residues are arranged on both sides of the proline aggregate and are connected through water O atoms, which act as acceptors for PABA and as hydrogen‐bond donors to the amino acids. The characteristic features of PABA, viz. twisting of the carboxyl plane from the aromatic ring and the formation of a head‐to‐tail chain motif [C(8)] along the b axis, are observed. A distinct feature of the structure is that no proton transfer occurs between proline and PABA.     

The effect of amino acid backbone length on molecular packing: crystalline tartrates of glycine, β‐alanine, γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) and dl‐α‐aminobutyric acid (AABA)

We report a novel 1:1 cocrystal of β‐alanine with dl ‐tartaric acid, C₃H₇NO₂·C₄H₆O₆, (II), and three new molecular salts of dl ‐tartaric acid with β‐alanine {3‐azaniumylpropanoic acid–3‐azaniumylpropanoate dl ‐tartaric acid–dl ‐tartrate, [H(C₃H₇NO₂)₂]⁺·[H(C₄H₅O₆)₂]⁻, (III)}, γ‐aminobutyric acid [3‐carboxypropanaminium dl ‐tartrate, C₄H₁₀NO₂⁺·C₄H₅O₆⁻, (IV)] and dl ‐α‐aminobutyric acid {dl ‐2‐azaniumylbutanoic acid–dl ‐2‐azaniumylbutanoate dl ‐tartaric acid–dl ‐tartrate, [H(C₄H₉NO₂)₂]⁺·[H(C₄H₅O₆)₂]⁻, (V)}. The crystal structures of binary crystals of dl ‐tartaric acid with glycine, (I), β‐alanine, (II) and (III), GABA, (IV), and dl ‐AABA, (V), have similar molecular packing and crystallographic motifs. The shortest amino acid (i.e. glycine) forms a cocrystal, (I), with dl ‐tartaric acid, whereas the larger amino acids form molecular salts, viz. (IV) and (V). β‐Alanine is the only amino acid capable of forming both a cocrystal [i.e. (II)] and a molecular salt [i.e. (III)] with dl ‐tartaric acid. The cocrystals of glycine and β‐alanine with dl ‐tartaric acid, i.e. (I) and (II), respectively, contain chains of amino acid zwitterions, similar to the structure of pure glycine. In the structures of the molecular salts of amino acids, the amino acid cations form isolated dimers [of β‐alanine in (III), GABA in (IV) and dl ‐AABA in (V)], which are linked by strong O—H…O hydrogen bonds. Moreover, the three crystal structures comprise different types of dimeric cations, i.e. (A…A)⁺ in (III) and (V), and A⁺…A⁺ in (IV). Molecular salts (IV) and (V) are the first examples of molecular salts of GABA and dl ‐AABA that contain dimers of amino acid cations. The geometry of each investigated amino acid (except dl ‐AABA) correlates with the melting point of its mixed crystal.     

1,1′‐Dimethylvanadocene α‐amino acid complexes: synthesis,characterization and antimicrobial behavior toward Escherichia coli B

Eight water‐soluble 1,1′‐dimethylvanadocene amino acid complexes have been prepared via the reaction of (MeCp)₂VCl₂ ( 2 ) with one equivalent of amino acid (aa) in water affording [(MeCp)₂V( aa )]Cl, where aa is glycine ( 3 ), L ‐alanine ( 4 ), L ‐valine ( 5 ), L ‐leucine ( 6 ), L ‐isoleucine ( 7 ), L ‐phenylalanine ( 8 ), L ‐histidine ( 9 ) and L ‐tryptophane ( 10 ). All prepared complexes have been characterized by EPR, IR and Raman spectroscopy, elemental analysis and mass spectrometry. Molecular structures of [(MeCp)₂V(ala)]BPh₄·CH₃OH ( 11 ), [(MeCp)₂V(leu)]PF₆ ( 12 ) and [(MeCp)₂V(ile)]PF₆ ( 13 ) were determined by X‐ray diffraction analysis. Cytotoxic properties of complexes 2–10 were investigated toward Escherichia coli B and compared with analogical unsubstituted vanadocene compounds ( 1, 14–21 ). The results showed that 1,1′‐dimethylvanadocene amino acid complexes have identical or slightly higher antiproliferative activity then their unsubstituted analogs. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strong hydrogen‐bonded amino acid dimers in l‐alanine alaninium nitrate

The title compound, C₃H₇NO₂·C₃H₈NO₂⁺·NO₃^?, contains l ‐alanine–alaninium dimers bonded via the carboxyl groups by a strong asymmetric hydrogen bond with an O?O distance of 2.4547 (19) Å. The neutral alanine mol­ecule exists as a zwitterion, where the carboxyl group is dissociated and the amino group is protonated. The alaninium cation has both groups in their acidic form. The alanine mol­ecule and the alaninium cation differ only slightly in their conformation, having an N—C_α—C=O torsion angle close to ?25°. The dimers and the nitrate anion are joined through a three‐dimensional hydrogen‐bond network, in which the full hydrogen‐bonding capabilities of the amino groups of the two alanine moieties are realised.     

l‐Phenyl­alanyl‐l‐alanine dihydrate

A new type of molecular arrangement for dipeptides is observed in the crystal structure of l ‐phenyl­alanyl‐l ‐alanine dihydrate, C₁₂H₁₆N₂O₃·2H₂O. Two l ‐Phe and two l ‐Ala side chains aggregate into large hydro­phobic columns within a three‐dimensional hydrogen‐bond network.     

Proton‐transfer and non‐transfer in compounds of quinoline and quinaldic acid with l‐tartaric acid

The structures of two compounds of l ‐tartaric acid with quinoline, viz. the proton‐transfer compound quinolinium hydrogen (2R,3R)‐tartrate monohydrate, C₉H₈N⁺·C₄H₅O₆⁻·H₂O, (I), and the anhydrous non‐proton‐transfer adduct with quinaldic acid, bis­(quinolinium‐2‐carboxyl­ate) (2R,3R)‐tar­taric acid, 2C₁₀H₇NO₂·C₄H₆O₆, (II), have been determined at 130 K. Compound (I) has a three‐dimensional honeycomb substructure formed from head‐to‐tail hydrogen‐bonded hydrogen tartrate anions and water mol­ecules. The stacks of π‐bonded quinolinium cations are accommodated within the channels and are hydrogen bonded to it peripherally. Compound (II) has a two‐dimensional network structure based on pseudo‐centrosymmetric head‐to‐tail hydrogen‐bonded cyclic dimers comprising zwitterionic quinaldic acid species which are inter­linked by tartaric acid mol­ecules.     

l‐Isoleucyl‐l‐serine 0.33‐hydrate,l‐phenyl­alanyl‐l‐serine and l‐methionyl‐l‐serine 0.34‐hydrate

The structures of the title dipeptides, C₉H₁₈N₂O₄·0.33H₂O, C₁₂H₁₆N₂O₄ and C₈H₁₆N₂O₄S·0.34H₂O, complete a series of investigations focused on l ‐Xaa‐l ‐serine peptides, where Xaa is a hydro­phobic residue. All three structures are divided into hydro­philic and hydro­phobic layers. The hydro­philic layers are thin for l ‐phenyl­alanyl‐l ‐serine, rendered possible by an unusual peptide conformation, and thick for l ‐isoleucyl‐l ‐serine and l ‐methionyl‐l ‐serine, which include cocrystallized water mol­ecules on the twofold axes.     

New 1:1 and 2:1 salts in the `dl‐norvaline–maleic acid' system as an example of assembling various crystal structures from similar supramolecular building blocks

Molecular salts and cocrystals of amino acids have potential applications as molecular materials with nonlinear optical, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and other various target physical properties. The wide choice of amino acids and coformers makes it possible to design various crystal structures. The amino acid–maleic acid system provides a perfect example of a rich variety of crystal structures with different stoichiometries, symmetries and packing motifs built from the molecular building blocks, which are either exactly the same, or differ merely by protonation or as optical isomers. The present paper reports the crystal structures of two new salts of the dl ‐norvaline–maleic acid system with 1:1 and 2:1 stoichiometries, namely dl ‐norvalinium hydrogen maleate, C₅H₁₂NO₂⁺·C₄H₃O₄⁻, (I), and dl ‐norvalinium hydrogen maleate–dl ‐norvaline, C₅H₁₂NO₂⁺·C₄H₃O₄⁻·C₅H₁₁NO₂, (II). These are the first examples of molecular salts of dl ‐norvaline with an organic anion. The crystal structure of (I) has the same C ₂²(12) structure‐forming motif which is common for hydrogen maleates of amino acids. The structure of (II) has dimeric cations. Of special interest is that the single crystals of (I) which are originally formed on crystallization from aqueous solution transform into single crystals of (II) if stored in the mother liquor for several hours.     

l‐Cysteinium semioxalate

The title salt, C₃H₈NO₂⁺·C₂HO₄⁻, formed between l ‐cysteine and oxalic acid, was studied as part of a comparison of the structures and properties of pure amino acids and their cocrystals. The structure of the title salt is very different from that formed by oxalic acid and equivalent amounts of d ‐ and l ‐cysteine molecules. The asymmetric unit contains an l ‐cysteinium cation and a semioxalate anion. The oxalate anion is only singly deprotonated, in contrast with the double deprotonation in the crystal structure of bis(dl ‐cysteinium) oxalate. The oxalate anion is not planar. The conformation of the l ‐cysteinium cation differs from that of the neutral cysteine zwitterion in the monoclinic and orthorhombic polymorphs of l ‐cysteine, but is similar to that of the cysteinium cation in bis(dl ‐cysteinium) oxalate. The structure of the title salt can be described as a three‐dimensional framework formed by ions linked by strong O—H...O and N—H...O and weak S—H...O hydrogen bonds, with channels running along the crystallographic a axis containing the bulky –CH₂SH side chains of the cysteinium cations. The cations are only linked through hydrogen bonds via semioxalate anions. There are no direct cation–cation interactions via N—H...O hydrogen bonds between the ammonium and carboxylate groups, or via weaker S—H...S or S—H...O hydrogen bonds.     

Dimeric (isoquinoline)(N‐salicylidene‐d,l‐glutamato)copper(II) ethanol solvate

The title racemic complex, bis[μ‐N‐(2‐oxidobenzylidene)‐d ,l ‐glutamato(2−)]bis[(isoquinoline)copper(II)] ethanol disolvate, [Cu₂(C₁₂H₁₁NO₅)₂(C₉H₇N)₂]·2C₂H₆O, adopts a square‐pyramidal Cu^II coordination mode with a tridentate N‐salicylideneglutamato Schiff base dianion and an isoquinoline ligand bound in the basal plane. The apex of the pyramid is occupied by a phenolic O atom from the adjacent chelate molecule at an apical distance of 2.487 (3) Å, building a dimer located on the crystallographic inversion center. The Cu...Cu spacing within the dimers is 3.3264 (12) Å. The ethanol solvent molecules are hydrogen bonded to the dimeric complex molecules, forming infinite chains in the a direction. The biological activity of the title complex has been studied.     

N‐(2‐Carboxy­benzoyl)‐l‐leucine methyl ester

The title compound (with the systematic name 2‐{[(1S)‐1‐(methoxy­carbonyl)‐3‐methyl­butyl]amino­carbonyl}benzoic acid), C₁₅H₁₉NO₅, crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2₁, with two independent mol­ecules per asymmetric unit. The most notable difference between the two mol­ecules is in the dihedral angles between the planes of the carboxyl group and the benzene ring, which are 3.5 (3) and 25.7 (1)°. This difference may account for the fact that two competing reactions are observed in aqueous solution, namely cyclization to form the imide N‐phthaloyl­leucine and hydrolysis of N‐(2‐carboxy­benzoyl)‐l ‐leucine methyl ester to phthalic acid and leucine.     

A Homochiral Metal‐Dipeptide Supramolecular Framework Including a Hydrogen‐bonded Guest Network of Water and Uncoordinated 4, 4′‐Bipyridine

Abstract. The self‐assembly of glycyl‐L ‐leucine, Cu(NO₃)₂ · 3H₂O and 4, 4′‐bipyridine resulted in the tetranuclear‐based metal‐dipeptide supramolecular framework [Cu₄(C₈H₁₄N₂O₃)₄(H₂O)₂(C₁₀H₈N₂)₂] · (C₁₀H₈N₂) · 13H₂O ( 1 ). In the structure, the 4, 4′‐bipyridine‐bridged tetranuclear complex of Cu^II‐glycyl‐L ‐leucine interacts with each other to form a 1D hydrogen‐bonded chain including uncoordinated 4, 4′‐bipyridine and an interesting water chain in different channels. Under similar reaction conditions, racemic glycyl‐D ,L ‐leucine gave rise to the centrosymmetric dinuclear complex [Cu₂(C₈H₁₄N₂O₃)₂(C₁₀H₈N₂)] · 2H₂O ( 2 ), which is linked into a 2D hydrogen‐bonded structure without 4, 4′‐bipyridine included.     

Water polymers in l‐alanyl‐l‐methionine hemihydrate

The side chains of l ‐alanyl‐l ‐me­thionine hemihydrate, C₈H₁₆N₂O₃S·0.5H₂O, form hydro­phobic columns within a three‐dimensional hydrogen‐bond network that includes extended polymers of cocrystallized water mol­ecules and C^α—H⋯S interactions.