Crystal structures of 1,1-di(p-substituted phenyl)-2,2-dinitroethylenes

The X-ray crystal structures of 1,1-di(p-methylphenyl)-2,2-dinitroethylene (2), 1,1-di(p-methoxylphenyl)-2,2-dinitroethylene (3), 1,1-di(p-fluorophenyl)-2,2- dinitroethylene (4), 1,1-di(p-chlorophenyl)-2,2-dinitroethylene (5), and 1-phenyl-1- (p-nitrophenyl)-2,2-dinitroethylene (6) are reported and compared with that of 1,1-diphenyl-2,2-dinitroethylene (1). Owing to steric repulsion between the aryl rings, the single bond lengths between C(1) and the two ring carbons atoms are longer than the normal sp2–sp2 bond distance of 1.46 Å. For 4–6 in which the aryl rings contain electron-withdrawing substituents (F, Cl, NO2), the double bonds between C(1) and C(2) are shorter than those in 2 and 3, whose aryl rings containing electron-donating substituents. Furthermore, the steric repulsion between the aryl rings and C\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$---$$ \end{document}NO2 fragments results in an appreciable twist about the central double bond. The two aryl rings of compounds 1–6 make dihedral angles of 77.7, 66.6, 62.8, 80.9, 82.0, and 71.2°, and the two C\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$---$$ \end{document}NO2 fragments make dihedral angles of 68.5, 67.8, 65.9, 76.9, 73.0, and 71.9°, respectively.