An approach to the design of molecular solids. The ureylenedicarboxylic acids

The crystal structures of a series of ureylenedicarboxylic acids have been determined as part of a project directed toward the design of molecular solids. The ureylenedicarboxylic acids were chosen for study because they were predicted to form a two-dimensional hydrogen-bonded network. This two-dimensional network is the result of two orthogonal linear arrays of self-complementary hydrogen-bonded functionalities, the dicarboxylic acids and N,N{prime}-disubstituted ureas, being present in the same molecule. The simplest molecules of the series, 2,2{prime}-ureylenediacetic acid (1), 3,3{prime}-ureylenedipropionic acid (2), and 4,4{prime}-ureylenedibutyric acid (3) as well as the simplest ureylene derived from a dipeptide, N,N{prime}-carbonylbisglycylglycine (4) were synthesized and studied by using x-ray crystallographic techniques. Each molecule was found to crystallize to give the predicted solid-state structure.