N-Tosyl-L-proline benzene hemisolvate: a rare example of a hydrogen-bonded carboxylic acid dimer with symmetrically disordered H atoms.

The carboxylic acid group is an example of a functional group which possess a good hydrogen-bond donor (-OH) and acceptor (C=O). For this reason, carboxylic acids have a tendency to self-assembly by the formation of hydrogen bonds between the donor and acceptor sites. We present here the crystal structure of N-tosyl-L-proline (TPOH) benzene hemisolvate {systematic name: (2S)-1-[(4-methylbenzene)sulfonyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid benzene hemisolvate}, C12H15NO4S·0.5C6H6, (I), in which a cyclic R22(8) hydrogen-bonded carboxylic acid dimer with a strong O-(1/2H)...(1/2H)-O hydrogen bond is observed. The compound was characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and NMR spectroscopy, and crystallizes in the space group I2 with half a benzene molecule and one TPOH molecule in the asymmetric unit. The H atom of the carboxyl OH group is disordered over a twofold axis. An analysis of the intermolecular interactions using the noncovalent interaction (NCI) index showed that the TPOH molecules form dimers due to the strong O-(1/2H)...(1/2H)-O hydrogen bond, while the packing of the benzene solvent molecules is governed by weak dispersive interactions. A search of the Cambridge Structural Database revealed that the disordered dimeric motif observed in (I) was found previously only in six crystal structures.