A mixed phosphine sulfide/selenide structure as an instructional example for how to evaluate the quality of a model.

This paper compares variations on a structure model derived from an X-ray diffraction data set from a solid solution of chalcogenide derivatives of cis-1,2-bis-(di-phenyl-phosphan-yl)ethyl-ene, namely, 1,2-(ethene-1,2-di-yl)bis-(di-phenyl-phoshpine sulfide/selenide), C26H22P2S1.13Se0.87. A sequence of processes are presented to ascertain the composition of the crystal, along with strategies for which aspects of the model to inspect to ensure a chemically and crystallographically realistic structure. Criteria include mis-matches between F obs 2 and F calc 2, plots of |F obs| vs |F calc|, residual electron density, checkCIF alerts, pitfalls of the OMIT command used to suppress ill-fitting data, comparative size of displacement ellipsoids, and critical inspection of inter-atomic distances. Since the structure is quite small, solves easily, and presents a number of readily expressible refinement concepts, we feel that it would make a straightforward and concise instructional piece for students learning how to determine if their model provides the best fit for the data and show students how to critically assess their structures.

Crystal structures of (Z)-(ethene-1,2-di-yl)bis-(di-phenyl-phosphine sulfide) and its complex with PtII dichloride.

The crystal structures of (Z)-(ethene-1,2-di-yl)bis-(di-phenyl-phosphine sulfide), C26H22P2S2 (I), along with its complex with PtII dichloride, di-chlorido[(Z)-(ethene-1,2-di-yl)bis-(di-phenyl-phosphine sulfide)-κ2 S,S']platinum(II), [PtCl2(C26H22P2S2)] (II), are described here. Compound I features P=S bond lengths of 1.9571 (15) and 1.9529 (15) Å, with a torsion angle of 166.24 (7)° between the two phosphine sulfide groups. The crystal of compound I features both intra-molecular C-H⋯S hydrogen bonds and π-π inter-actions. Mol-ecules of compound I are held together with inter-molecular π-π and C-H⋯π inter-actions to form chains that run parallel to the z-axis. The inter-molecular C-H⋯π inter-action has a H⋯Cg distance of 2.63 Å, a D⋯Cg distance of 3.573 (5) Šand a D-H⋯Cg angle of 171° (where Cg refers to the centroid of one of the phenyl rings). These chains are linked by relatively long C-H⋯S hydrogen bonds with D⋯A distances of 3.367 (4) and 3.394 (4) Šwith D-H⋯A angles of 113 and 115°. Compound II features Pt-Cl and Pt-S bond lengths of 2.3226 (19) and 2.2712 (19) Å, with a P=S bond length of 2.012 (3) Å. The PtII center adopts a square-planar geometry, with Cl-Pt-Cl and S-Pt-S bond angles of 90.34 (10) and 97.19 (10)°, respectively. Mol-ecules of compound II are linked in the crystal by inter-molecular C-H⋯Cl and C-H⋯S hydrogen bonds.