Conspectus The distribution of the electron density around covalently bonded atoms is anisotropic, and this determines the presence, on atoms surface, of areas of higher and lower electron density where the electrostatic potential is frequently negative and positive, respectively. The ability of positive areas on atoms to form attractive interactions with electron rich sites became recently the subject of a flurry of papers. The halogen bond (HaB), the attractive interaction formed by halogens with nucleophiles, emerged as a quite common and dependable tool for controlling phenomena as diverse as the binding of small molecules to proteinaceous targets or the organization of molecular functional materials. The mindset developed in relation to the halogen bond prompted the interest in the tendency of elements of groups 13–16 of the periodic table to form analogous attractive interactions with nucleophiles. This Account addresses the chalcogen bond (ChB), the attractive interaction formed by group 16 elements with nucleophiles, by adopting a crystallographic point of view. Structures of organic derivatives are considered where chalcogen atoms form close contacts with nucleophiles in the geometry typical for chalcogen bonds. It is shown how sulfur, selenium, and tellurium can all form chalcogen bonds, the tendency to give rise to close contacts with nucleophiles increasing with the polarizability of the element. Also oxygen, when conveniently substituted, can form ChBs in crystalline solids. Chalcogen bonds can be strong enough to allow for the interaction to function as an effective and robust tool in crystal engineering. It is presented how chalcogen containing heteroaromatics, sulfides, disulfides, and selenium and tellurium analogues as well as some other molecular moieties can afford dependable chalcogen bond based supramolecular synthons. Particular attention is given to chalcogen containing azoles and their derivatives due to the relevance of these moieties in biosystems and molecular materials. It is shown how the interaction pattern around electrophilic chalcogen atoms frequently recalls the pattern around analogous halogen, pnictogen, and tetrel derivatives. For instance, directionalities of chalcogen bonds around sulfur and selenium in some thiazolium and selenazolium derivatives are similar to directionalities of halogen bonds around bromine and iodine in bromonium and iodonium compounds. This gives experimental evidence that similarities in the anisotropic distribution of the electron density in covalently bonded atoms translates in similarities in their recognition and self-assembly behavior. For instance, the analogies in interaction patterns of carbonitrile substituted elements of groups 17, 16, 15, and 14 will be presented. While the extensive experimental and theoretical data available in the literature prove that HaB and ChB form twin supramolecular synthons in the solid, more experimental information has to become available before such a statement can be safely extended to interactions wherein ele...

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Modeling indicates the presence of a region of low electronic density (a Bσ-hole^) on group 14 elements, and this offers an explanation for the ability of these elements to act as electrophilic sites and to form attractive interactions with nucleophiles. While many papers have described theoretical investigations of interactions involving carbon and silicon, such investigations of the heavier group 14 elements are relatively scarce. The purpose of this review is to rectify, to some extent, the current lack of experimental data on interactions formed by germanium and tin with nucleophiles. A survey of crystal structures in the Cambridge Structural Database is reported. This survey reveals that close contacts between Ge or Sn and lone-pair-possessing atoms are quite common, they can be either intra-or intermolecular contacts, and they are usually oriented along the extension of the covalent bond formed by the tetrel with the most electron-withdrawing substituent. Several examples are discussed in which germanium and tin atoms bear four carbon residues or in which halogen, oxygen, sulfur, or nitrogen substituents replace one, two, or three of those carbon residues. These close contacts are assumed to be the result of attractive interactions between the involved atoms and afford experimental evidence of the ability of germanium and tin to act as electrophilic sites, namely tetrel bond (TB) donors. This ability can govern the conformations and the packing of organic derivatives in the solid state. TBs can therefore be considered a promising and robust tool for crystal engineering.

Experimental and theoretical studies of fluoro-, chloro-, and bromo-substituted derivatives of barbituric acid and indandione show that imide protons form short hydrogen bonds and bromine or, to a lesser extent, chlorine atoms form halogen bonds. The imide nitrogen atoms act as effective pnictogen bond donors, while C(sp 2 ) and C(sp 3 ) atoms act as tetrel bond donors; the resulting N•••O and C•••O close interactions are a distinctive feature of crystal lattices in all compounds. Importantly, halogen atoms promote the electrophilicity of C(sp 3 ) sites and favor the formation of C(sp 3 )•••O close contacts. Oxygen atoms of carbonyl groups of barbituric and indandione units or of water molecules function as the interaction acceptor sites: namely, they donate electron density to hydrogen, halogen, nitrogen, and carbon atoms. Modeling of various barbituric acid derivatives indicates that the positive electrostatic potentials of π-holes orthogonal to the C(sp 2 ) carbons and σ-holes on the elongation of quasi-axial F/Cl/Br−C(sp 3 ) bonds merge to produce a single well-defined point of the most positive electrostatic potential on one face of the barbituric acids. This single local maximum of the potential on the molecular face is close to the site occupied by the oxygen forming the C(sp 3 )•••O, and C(sp 2 )•••O, short contacts observed in crystals.

Ebselen, a compound active against SARS-CoV-2, forms a bifurcated supramolecular synthon thanks to chalcogen bond and hydrogen bond cooperation.

The SbF3·4,4′-dipyridyl N,N′-dioxide co-crystal is prepared and characterized via infrared spectroscopy and 121 Sb and 123 Sb nuclear quadrupolar resonance. Single crystal X-ray analyses proves that a major role in co-crystal formation is played by Sb•••O pnictogen bonds, the attractive interactions wherein antimony and oxygen act as the electrophilic and nucleophilic sites, respectively. Molecular Electrostatic Potential and Natural Bond Orbital analyses confirm the relevance of this interaction in the self-assembly process. Dipyridyl dioxide forms also hydrogen bonded and halogen bonded cocrystal, e.g., when water and 1,4-diiodo-tetrafluorobenzene function as acceptors of electron density. Experiments of competitive co-crystal formation indicate that under the adopted conditions pnictogen bond prevails over halogen bond and hydrogen bond in identifying the tecton involved in co-crystal formation with dipyridyl dioxide.

The diselenide moiety is labeled as a novel and robust chalcogen bond (ChB) donor group. The molecular electrostatic potential of two prototype diselenide derivatives shows the presence of two σ-holes along both the covalent bonds in which each selenium atom is involved. The propensity of selenium atoms of diselenides to work as electrophilic sites is confirmed by computational studies on the bis­(o-anilinium)­diselenide cation, and single crystal X-ray analysis of salts of this cation reveals the presence of close selenium···anion contacts. Comparison with halogen bonds in crystal structures of ionic λ3-iodane derivatives supports the rationalization of these close contacts as charge-assisted ChBs. Discrete adducts or two-dimensional networks are formed, suggesting the profitable use of the diselenide moiety in ChB based crystal engineering.