Experimental charge-density study on the nickel(II) coordination complex [Ni(H3L)][NO3][PF6] [H3L = N,N',N''-tris(2-hydroxy-3-methylbutyl)-1,4,7-triazacyclononane]: a reappraisal.

The experimental charge density in the title complex has been re-examined. The original work, reported some 8 years ago [Smith et al. (1997). J. Am. Chem. Soc. 119, 5028-5034], was undertaken using a very early version of the XD software, which contained serious programming errors. A re-refinement, using the original data and a recent version of the XD software, shows that many of the unusual aspects of this earlier study are artefacts due to these programming errors. The topological properties of the newly obtained experimental density compare well with those calculated from a theoretical DFT (density-functional theory) UHF-SCF (unrestricted Hartree Fock-self-consistent field) density. This report corrects several erroneous conclusions regarding the charge density in the title complex--in particular, the highly unusual diffuse Laplacian distribution about the Ni atom, and the trifurcated bond path from the Ni atom to the alcohol oxygen donor atoms are no longer observed. An examination of a range of topological properties of the metal-ligand bonds leads to the conclusion that the Ni-N and Ni-O bonds have an intermediate character, with a significant shared interaction, but with a substantial ionic component. This new study also reveals a previously unrecognized intramolecular H...H interaction in the macrocyclic ligand.

Charge densities from high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments.

The combination of intense X-ray sources, especially synchrotron radiation, with area-detector technology has accomplished an enormous advance in the experimental conditions available for charge-density analysis by single-crystal high-resolution X-ray diffraction. Such experiments can now be carried out in a time measured in hours rather than weeks. Some features of these experiments are examined and preliminary results are reported for charge-density studies of 2-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzaldehyde N-cyclohexylimine (1), octakis(m-tolylthio)naphthalene (2), and 7-fluoro-4-styrylcoumarin (3). Weak interactions in crystals of (1) and (3) are found to have similar charge-density characteristics. Cages in the crystal lattice of (2) have a complex charge distribution.

The Gram-Charlier and multipole expansions in accurate X-ray diffraction studies: can they be distinguished?

The Gram-Charlier temperature factor formalism has been applied to a set of accurate low-temperature data on bis(pyridine)(meso-tetraphenylporphinato)iron(II), and to a theoretical set of static structure factors on the hexaaquairon(II) ion. The refinements are compared with the multipole treatment for atomic asphericity due to chemical bonding. In a treatment of the experimental data in which only the iron atom asphericity is considered, the 'thermal motion' formalism is as efficient as the multipole formalism in accounting for the observations. It is slightly less efficient when applied to the static theoretical data, though model maps based on the two treatments are remarkably similar. A high-order Gram-Charlier refinement of the porphyrin data, followed by a multipole refinement of all data with the Gram-Charlier parameters initially fixed, and later varied, shows that simultaneous refinement of anharmonic and aspherical effects is possible, though the resulting separation may not be accurate. A combined Gram-Charlier multipole refinement on the static data, however, leads to non-significant thermal parameters. It is concluded that the statistical Gram-Charlier formalism is remarkably successful in representing bonding effects in the valence charge density if these are not specifically accounted for in the scattering formalism. Statistical anharmonic thermal motion formalisms should only be used for X-ray data analysis in combination with a formalism accounting for the effect of bonding on the atomic charge density.