Acetic anhydride at 100 K: the first crystal structure determination

Acetic anhydride (ethanoic anhydride), (CH₃CO)₂O, is a widely used acetylation reagent in organic synthesis. The crystal and molecular structure, as determined by single‐crystal X‐ray analysis at 100 K, is reported for the first time. A crystal of the title compound (m.p. 200 K) suitable for X‐ray diffraction was grown from the melt at low temperature. The title compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pbcn, with Z = 4. In the crystal, the molecule adopts an exact C₂‐symmetric conformation about a crystallographic twofold axis. The molecules are densely packed. Two of the methyl H atoms form short intermolecular contacts to a neighbouring carbonyl O atom, which can be viewed as weak hydrogen bonds.