Cobalt complexes derived from chiral quasi-racemic ligands as building blocks for binary crystals

The crystal structures of three new coordination compounds have been determined by X-ray diffraction: reaction of the enantiomerically pure ligands R-1-(4′-methoxyphenyl)ethylamine and S-1-(4′-chlorophenyl)ethylamine with [Co(Hdmg)2(NO2)(H2O)] (Hdmg = dimethylglyoximate) results in a pair of quasi-racemic complexes. Despite their different molecular conformations in the solid state these compounds can be cocrystallized to give a well-ordered binary solid of superior packing efficiency in which the components are arranged in a pseudo-inversion symmetric fashion.