Raise the anchor! Synthesis, X-ray and NMR characterization of 1,3,5-triazinanes with an axial tert-butyl group.

N-t-Bu-N',N''-Disulfonamide-1,3,5-triazinanes were synthesized and characterized by X-ray single crystal structure analysis. In the course of the X-ray structure elucidation, the first solid experimental evidence of the axial position of the tert-butyl group in unconstrained hexahydro-1,3,5-triazacyclohexanes was obtained. Dynamic low-temperature NMR analysis allowed to fully investigate a rare case of crystallization-driven unanchoring of the tert-butyl group in the chair conformation of saturated six-membered cycles. DFT calculations show that the use of explicit solvent molecules is necessary to explain the equatorial position of the t-Bu group in solution. Otherwise, the axial conformer is the thermodynamically stable isomer.