Crystal packing of TCNQ anion pi-radicals governed by intermolecular covalent pi-pi bonding: DFT calculations and statistical analysis of crystal structures

On the basis of a thorough Cambridge Structural Database survey, we present a statistical analysis of the packing of TCNQ anion pi-radicals in TCNQ charge transfer salts, which reveals three packing motifs between neighboring TCNQs: one with a zero longitudinal offset and an approximate 1 A transversal offset, another with an approximate 2 A longitudinal offset and zero transversal offset, and the third with a relatively long sigma-bond in the length of r = 1.6-1.7 A connecting two TCNQ fragments. Along with the statistical analysis of the crystal structures, we also present density functional theory calculations of the total energy, covalent pi-pi bonding interaction energy, and Coulombic repulsion energy for the TCNQ](2)(2-)pi-dimers with various packing geometries. We find that the interactions between TCNQ anion pi-radicals include contributions from intermolecular covalent pi-pi bonding interaction and local dipole repulsions, in addition to Coulombic repulsion, van der Waals and the attractive electrostatic forces between counter-cations and TCNQ anions pointed out recently by other groups for TCNE anion radicals. We describe an approximate formula for intermolecular interaction energy, E(int) = E(coul) + E(bond) + E(vdW), for systems in vacuum, while in the solid state E(coul) is compensated by the attractive electrostatic forces between counter-cations and TCNQ anions. We conclude that the crystal packing of TCNQ molecules in their charge transfer salts is predominantly determined by the intermolecular covalent pi-pi bonding term, E(bond).