Molecular assembly of 1,3,5-tris(cyanomethyl) and 1,4-bis(cyanomethyl)arenes with silver triflate

Dicyano- and tricyano-substituted aromatic angular building blocks were system- atically complexed with silver triflate, and their structures were determined by means of sin- gle-crystal X-ray diffraction. The molecular assembly of 1,3,5-tris(cyanomethyl)-2,4,6-tri- ethylbenzene with silver triflate from benzene resulted in a layered structure with distorted square pyramidal silver sites. The structure resulting from the complexation of 1,3,5-tris(cyanomethyl)-2,4,6-trimethylbenzene with silver triflate is dependent on the sol- vent of crystallization. From benzene or toluene, reaction of 1,3,5-tris(cyanomethyl)-2,4,6- trimethylbenzene with silver triflate yielded a porous, channel-containing, solvated structure, but from acetone the resulting material was a network solid containing no solvent. Complexation of 1,4-bis(cyanomethyl)-2,3,5,6-tetraethylbenzene and 1,4-bis(cyano- methyl)-2,3,5,6-tetramethylbenzene with silver triflate resulted in network solids where the triflate anions were strongly coordinated to the silver.