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In an attempt to grow 8-hydroxyquinoline–acetaminophen co-crystals from equimolar amounts of conformers in a chloroform–ethanol solvent mixture at room temperature, the title compound, C 9 H 7 NO, was obtained. The molecule is planar, with the hydroxy H atom forming an intramolecular O—H...N hydrogen bond. In the crystal, molecules form centrosymmetric dimers via two O—H...N hydrogen bonds. Thus, the hydroxy H atoms are involved in bifurcated O—H...N hydrogen bonds, leading to the formation of a central planar four-membered N 2 H 2 ring. The dimers are bound by intermolecular π–π stacking [the shortest C...C distance is 3.2997 (17) Å] and C—H...π interactions into a three-dimensional framework. The crystal grown represents a new monoclinic polymorph in the space group P 2 1 / n . The molecular structure of the present monoclinic polymorph is very similar to that of the orthorhombic polymorph (space group Fdd 2) studied previously [Roychowdhury et al. (1978). Acta Cryst. B 34 , 1047–1048; Banerjee & Saha (1986). Acta Cryst. C 42 , 1408–1411]. The structures of the two polymorphs are distinguished by the different geometries of the hydrogen-bonded dimers, which in the crystal of the orthorhombic polymorph possess twofold axis symmetry, with the central N 2 H 2 ring adopting a butterfly conformation.
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This content will become publicly available on December 1, 2025
Polymorph sampling with coupling to extended variables: enhanced sampling of polymorph energy landscapes and free energy perturbation of polymorph ensembles
A novel approach to computationally enhance the sampling of molecular crystal structures is proposed and tested. This method is based on the use of extended variables coupled to a Monte Carlo based crystal polymorph generator. Inspired by the established technique of quasi-random sampling of polymorphs using the rigid molecule constraint, this approach represents molecular clusters as extended variables within a thermal reservoir. Polymorph unit-cell variables are generated using pseudo-random sampling. Within this framework, a harmonic coupling between the extended variables and polymorph configurations is established. The extended variables remain fixed during the inner loop dedicated to polymorph sampling, enforcing a stepwise propagation of the extended variables to maintain system exploration. The final processing step results in a polymorph energy landscape, where the raw structures sampled to create the extended variable trajectory are re-optimized without the thermal coupling term. The foundational principles of this approach are described and its effectiveness using both a Metropolis Monte Carlo type algorithm and modifications that incorporate replica exchange is demonstrated. A comparison is provided with pseudo-random sampling of polymorphs for the molecule coumarin. The choice to test a design of this algorithm as relevant for enhanced sampling of crystal structures was due to the obvious relation between molecular structure variables and corresponding crystal polymorphs as representative of the inherent vapor to crystal transitions that exist in nature. Additionally, it is shown that the trajectories of extended variables can be harnessed to extract fluctuation properties that can lead to valuable insights. A novel thermodynamic variable is introduced: the free energy difference between ensembles ofZ′ = 1 andZ′ = 2 crystal polymorphs.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2118890
- PAR ID:
- 10579944
- Publisher / Repository:
- International Union of Crystallography
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Acta Crystallographica Section B Structural Science, Crystal Engineering and Materials
- Volume:
- 80
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 2052-5206
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 575 to 594
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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