Participation of benzene hydrogen bonding upon anion binding

A m-xylene-bridged imidazolium receptor, 1, has been designed and synthesized. The receptor 1 utilizes two imidazole (C-H)(+)- - -anion hydrogen bonds and one benzene hydrogen- - -anion hydrogen bond. The major driving force of complexation between the receptor 1 and anions comes from two imidazole (C-H)(+)- - -anion hydrogen bonds. However, both NMR experiments and ab initio calculations show that the benzene hydrogen attracts the anion guests, clearly indicating benzene (C-H)- - -anion hydrogen bonding. reaction: see text]