Abstract
An understanding of the driving forces resulting in crystallization vs organogel formation is essential to the development of modern soft materials. In the mol-ecular structure of the title compound, methyl 10-[4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)phen-oxy]decanoate (MBO10Me), C(23)H(30)O(4), the aromatic rings of the biphenyl group are canted by 6.6 (2)° and the long-chain ester group has an extended conformation. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked by O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming chains along [10[Formula: see text]]. The chains are linked by C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming layers parallel to the ac plane. The layers are linked by C-H⋯π inter-actions, forming a three-dimensional supra-molecular structure. The extended structure exhibits a lamellar sheet arrangement of mol-ecules stacking along the b-axis direction. Each mol-ecule has six nearest neighbors and the seven-mol-ecule bundles stack to form a columnar superstructure. Inter-action energies within the bundles are dominated by dispersion forces, whereas inter-columnar inter-actions have a greater electrostatic component.