Abstract
A new polymorph (form II) is reported for the 1:1 dimethyl sulfoxide solvate of 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-1,4-diiodobenzene (TFDIB·DMSO or C(6)F(4)I(2)·C(2)H(6)SO). The structure is similar to that of a previously reported polymorph (form I) [Britton (2003). Acta Cryst. E59, o1332-o1333], containing layers of TFDIB molecules with DMSO molecules between, accepting I...O halogen bonds from two TFDIB molecules. Re-examination of form I over the temperature range 300-120 K shows that it undergoes a phase transformation around 220 K, where the DMSO molecules undergo re-orientation and become ordered. The unit cell expands by ca 0.5 Å along the c axis and contracts by ca 1.0 Å along the a axis, and the space-group symmetry is reduced from Pnma to P2(1)2(1)2(1). Refinement of form I against data collected at 220 K captures the (average) structure of the crystal prior to the phase transformation, with the DMSO molecules showing four distinct disorder components, corresponding to an overlay of the 297 and 120 K structures. Assessment of the intermolecular interaction energies using the PIXEL method indicates that the various orientations of the DMSO molecules have very similar total interaction energies with the molecules of the TFDIB framework. The phase transformation is driven by interactions between DMSO molecules, whereby re-orientation at lower temperature yields significantly closer and more stabilizing interactions between neighbouring DMSO molecules, which lock in an ordered arrangement along the shortened a axis.