Published in Henry Rzepa's Blog

A few years back, I did a post about the Pirkle reagent[cite]10.1039/c39910000765[/cite] and the unusual π-facial hydrogen bonding structure[cite]10.1039/P29940000703[/cite] it exhibits. For the Pirkle reagent, this bonding manifests as a close contact between the acidic OH hydrogen and the edge of a phenyl ring; the hydrogen bond is off-centre from the middle of the aryl ring.

References

General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyGeneral Medicine

Short N+—H...Ph hydrogen bonds in ammonium tetraphenylborate characterized by neutron diffraction

Published in Acta Crystallographica Section B Structural Science
Authors Thomas Steiner, Sax A. Mason

The crystal structures of ammonium tetraphenylborate, NH4 +·BPh4 −, are determined by neutron diffraction at 20 and 293 K. At both temperatures, all four N—H vectors of the ammonium ion are time-average-oriented at the midpoints of the phenyl rings of neighboring anions. The N—H...Ph distances, H...M 2.067 and N...M 3.023 Å, are exceptionally short (M = aromatic midpoint). Even at 20 K the ammonium ion performs large amplitude motions which allow the N—H vectors to sample the entire face of the aromatic system.