Crystal and molecular structure of hexahydropyridine (piperidine) hydrochloride

The structure of hexahydro pyridine (piperidine), a compound of psychobiological importance, has been determined in the form of its hydrochloride by the heavy-atom technique, using three-dimensional X-ray data. Hexahydro pyridine hydrochloride, (C₅H₅N)H₆.HC1, crystallizes in the orthorhombic space groupPbcm with four molecules per unit cell of dimensionsa = 9.68(2),b = 7.30(3),c = 9.67(2) Å. The positions of the hydrogen atoms were located from a difference-Fourier synthesis. The structure was refined by the full-matrix least-squares method, using anisotropic temperature factors, leading to the finalR-value of 0.094. The hexahydro pyridine ring has a chair conformation. The crystallographic mirror plane atz = 1/4 coincides with the molecular mirror plane passing through the C1, N and C(3) atoms of the molecule in such a way that C(1)′ and C(2)′ are the mirror images of C(1) and C(2). The dihedral angles which plane I, containing C(1), C(2), C(2)′ and C(1)′, makes with plane II, containing C(2), C(3) and C(2)′, and planeIII, containing C(1), N and C(1)′, are 120.47 and 116∶42 °, respectively. The molecules are held together by a network of hydrogen bonds of type N⁺ —H ... C1^? in thexy-plane, and by van der Waals forces in thez-direction. Both the hydrogen atoms in the NH ₂ ⁺ group of the molecule take part in the formation of hydrogen bonds.