An oxa-bridged tetrahalo aryl lattice inclusion host

Abstract

The oxygen-substituted diquinoline tetrabromide 11 has been synthesised and found to be a further example of the tetrahalo aryl inclusion host family. This host forms achiral molecular staircases by means of aromatic offset face–face (OFF) and centrosymmetric pi–halogen dimer (PHD) interactions. The X-ray crystal structures of the compounds (11)₂·(chloroform) and (11)₂·(dichloromethane) show that the included guest molecules occupy channels between the parallel staircases, and that host inter-staircase O⋯Br association is also significant.