W0319

Quasiracemic Molecular Crystals. Kraig A. Wheeler¹, Greg Hopkins¹, & Raymond E. Davis², ¹Dept. of Chemistry, Delaware State Univ., Dover, DE, 19901, ²Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712.

Racemic mixtures composed of (R)-X and (S)-X form rigorously centrosymmetric patterns. In general, if one component of a racemate is replaced by a chemically different moiety, such as compounds (R)-X and (S)-X', then cocrystalline assemblages would not occur, unless there is a strong, specific interaction between the synthons. However, if the structural change is small, then it is possible for cocrystallization to follow. Such a set of compounds, termed quasiracemates, form approximate centrosymmetric assemblages that can mimic the patterns observed for “true” racemates. As part of our effort to understand the factors that influence quasiracemate formation we have designed, synthesized and crystallographically characterized sets of compounds derived from binaphthylamine templates. Data collected from the enantiomeric, racemic and quasiracemic crystal structures provides evidence of the role of molecular topology to quasiracemate formation and contributes to the knowledge base of exploitable molecular features for the design of materials with bulk solid functions.