Crystal engineering rescues a solution organic synthesis in a cocrystallization that confirms the configuration of a molecular ladder

Treatment of an achiral molecular ladder of C₂h symmetry composed of five edge-sharing cyclobutane rings, or a [5]-ladderane, with acid results in cis- to trans-isomerization of end pyridyl groups. Solution NMR spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations support the isomerization to generate two diastereomers. The NMR data, however, could not lead to unambiguous configurational assignments of the two isomers. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction was employed to determine each configuration. One isomer readily crystallized as a pure form and X-ray diffraction revealed the molecule as being achiral based on Ci symmetry. The second isomer resisted crystallization under a variety of conditions. Consequently, a strategy based on a cocrystallization was developed to generate single crystals of the second isomer. Cocrystallization of the isomer with a carboxylic acid readily afforded single crystals that confirmed a chiral ladderane based on C₂ symmetry. The chiral ladderane and acid self-assembled to generate a five-component hydrogen-bonded complex that packs to form large solvent-filled homochiral channels of nanometer-scale dimensions. Whereas cocrystallizations are frequently applied to structure determinations of proteins, our study represents the first application of a cocrystallization to confirm the relative configuration of a small-molecule diastereomer generated in a solution-phase organic synthesis.