Benzoylacetonate and its fluorinated derivatives as ligands for Co(II) complexes: the effect of the presence of fluorine atoms on the crystal packing

The influence of the introduced fluorine atoms to diketonato backbone exerted on the crystal packing was studied on cobalt(II) bis(4,4,4-trifluoro-1-phenylbutane-1,3-dionato-κ ² O,O′) compounds with pyridine (1), 2,2′-bipyridine (2) and 1,10-phenanthroline (4), and cobalt(II) bis(benzoylacetonato-κ ² O,O′) compound with 2,2′-bipyridine (3). The solid-state structures of 1–4 were determined by single crystal X-ray analysis. The coordination of Co(II) is octahedral in all four compounds. The differences in crystal packing of 1 with regard to the known complexes with non-fluorinated analogue and 4,4,4-trifluoro-1-(4-fluorophenyl)butane-1,3-dionate were observed. Unit cell parameters of 2·½C₇H₈ and 3·½C₇H₈ slightly differ, but they have similar crystal packing dominated by the π–π interactions. Strong π–π interactions and weak C–H···π(arene) and C–F···π(arene) interactions are present in 2–4, while no significant intermolecular interactions are present in 1.