Crystal Structure of Adeninium Trichloromercurate(II),

The title compound belongs to space group P2 1 /c with a = 23.99(1), b = 4.245(2), c = 25.98(1) Å, β = 117.58(7)°, and Z = 8. The structure was solved by the heavy-atom method and refined by block-diagonal least squares on 2589 independent observed reflections. All non-hydrogen atoms were refined anisotropically and some of the hydrogen atoms were located but their parameters were not refined. The final values of R and R w were 0.042 and 0.047, respectively.The two nonequivalent mercury atoms have very similar environments. Two short Hg—Cl bonds (2.34–2.38 Å) at ∼ 165° define a quasi-molecular HgCl 2 unit. Overall octahedral coordination is completed with two chloride ions at 2.76–2.84 Å and two chlorine atoms at 3.19–3.26 Å on neighboring HgCl 2 quasi-molecules. HgCl 6 octahedra share edges to form twofold ribbons in the b direction. This pattern of octahedra is identical with the onereported for β-NH 4 HgCl 3 . The cations are pairs of N(1)-protonated adenine molecules linked by two N(10)—H(10)… N(7) hydrogen bonds and stacked in the b direction. Water molecules act as acceptors in moderately strong hydrogen bonds with acidic protons H(1) and H(9) of adeninium ions. Other generally weaker hydrogen bonds exist between the various parts of the structure.