NEW HOST ARCHITECTURE OF HYDROQUINONE WITH ENCLATHRATED C-70

The room-temperature crystal structure of a molecular 1:4.5:1 complex of C70, hydroquinone (HQ), and benzene (bz), C70(HQ)4.5bz, is reported. The solid-state architecture of the donor-acceptor complex has trigonal symmetry and consists of a novel H-bonded superoctahedral HQ host network with three different types of cavities enclathrating the C70 and bz guest molecules. Giant HQ twin cages shaped according to the shell of a peanut house a pair of C70 molecules, large single cages accommodate one C70 guest, and smaller HQ cages of tetrahedral shape embrace a sandwich pair of bz molecules. The long axes of the C70 guest molecules are orthogonal to the trigonal crystal and cage axes. Their HQ host cages may be viewed as expanded supercubes and related to the simple supercube cavities of the sister complex C60(HQ)3 reported previously. A topological analogy exists between the tetrahedral HQ cages and the supertetrahedral building blocks of the pyrochlore network. The HQ host network of C70 (HQ)4.5bz is essentially ordered, and the C70 and bz guest species are orientationally disordered. The adopted benzene guest model is provisional only and requires further backing.