Crystal structure of a (tetraphenylporphine)silver–tetraphenylporphine molecular solid solution

Abstract

The tetragonal molecular solid solution (AgL)_x(L)_{1 –x}(L = tetraphenylporphine, C₄₄H₃₀N₄), for x= 0·54, has cell dimensions a= 13·384, c= 9·717 Å; Z= 2, space-group /4/m. The structure was solved from diffractometer data and refined by least-squares to R 0·085 for 1221 observed reflections. In (AgL)_0·54(L_1/2L′_1/2)_0·46 the free base molecules are disordered in two orientations, L and L′, related to each other by a 90° rotation about an axis passing through silver atom and perpendicular to the porphine ring. This unsolvated, metastable phase has a large volume per molecule and represents <1% of the total yield of crystals, most of which are triclinic (P). The high residual, the low site-occupancy of the silver atom (0·54), and some apparently short C–H bond lengths may be produced by the effects of the positional disorder in the crystal and the molecular solid solution.