Structural Features of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ortho</Emphasis>-hydroxy Bis-phenols and Their Comparison with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Para</Emphasis>-hydroxy Bis-phenols

Abstract The crystal structures of four bis-phenols are reported to substantiate the fact that the weak interactions play a major role in the crystal packing of bis-phenols. The reaction of 2,4-dimethylphenol with aldehydes such as 2-naphthaldehyde, terephthaldehyde in the presence of trifluoracetic acid gave 2-bis(2-hydroxy 3,5-dimethylphenyl)methyl]naphthalene (1) and 4-bis(2-hydroxy 3,5-dimethylphenyl) methyl]benzaldehyde (2), respectively. The 2-bis-(2-hydroxy 3,5-dimethylphenyl)-methyl]naphthalene (1) crystallizes in orthorhombic, Pbca, a = 11.905(3) ?, b = 18.788(5) ?, c = 18.894(5) ?, 4-bis(2-hydroxy 3,5-dimethylphenyl)methyl] benzaldehyde (2) in monoclinic, Cc, a = 8.880(3) ?, b = 16.394(7) ?, c = 13.700(5) ?, γ = 104.542(2)°. The reaction of 2-nitrobenzaldehyde with 2,4-dimethylphenol gave 2-benzoc] isoxazo-3-yl 4,6-dimethylphenol (3) and its crystal parameters are orthorhombic, P2₁2₁2₁, a = 7.737(6) ?, b = 11.885(9) ?, c = 13.336(8) ?. The reaction of 2,6-dimethylphenol with 4-nitrobenzaldehyde and 2-chlorobenzaldehyde gave bis(4-hydroxy 3,5-dimethylphenyl)(4-nitrophenyl)methane (4) and bis(4-hydroxy 3,5-dimethylphenyl)(2-chlorophenyl)methane (5), respectively. The bis(4-hydroxy 3,5dimethylphenyl)(4-nitrophenyl)methane (4) crystallizes in monoclinic, C2/c, a = 25.921(1) ?, b = 12.202(4) ?, c = 15.6084(7) ?, β = 122.172(4)°, and bis(4-hydroxy 3,5-dimethylphenyl) (2-chlorophenyl)methane crystallizes as acetonitrile solvate (5) in triclinic, P-1, a = 12.314(3) ?, b = 14.111(3) ?, c = 15.078(5) ?, α = 98.268(2)°, β = 111.268(2)°, γ = 114.304(1)˚. The unit cell of 5 contains two pairs of crystallographically unsymmetric molecules of bis-phenols. Index abstract The crystal structures of four bis-phenols are reported to substantiate the fact that the weak interactions plays a major role in crystal packing and can induce symmetry non-equivalence among bis-phenols in unit cell of bis-phenols.