In a systematic search for supramolecular complexes involving all combinations of the cyclic polyethers 12-crown-4 (12C4), 15-crown-5 (15C 5), 18-crown-6 (18C 6) and dibenzo- 18-crown-6 (DB -18C6), and the geminal di- or trisulfones H2C(SO 2Me)2, H2C (SO2Et)2 and HC (SO2Me)3-n (SO2Et)n (n = 0 -3 ) , only the following four complexes could be isolated and unequivocally characterized by elemental analysis and 1H NMR spectroscopy: [(12C4){H2C (SO2Et)2}2] (3), [(18C6){H2C (S O2Me)2}] (4), [(DB -18C 6){H2C (SO2Et)2}] (5) and [(D B -18C 6)2{HC (SO2Me )(SO2Et)2}3] (6). The structure of 3 (triclinic, space group P1̄) consists of crystallographically centrosymmetric formula units, in which the disulfone molecules are bonded on each side of the ring by two C -H ··· O(crown) interactions originating from the central methylene group (H···O 213 pm) and from the methylene group of one EtSO2 moiety ( H ··· O 237 pm). Formula units related by translation are connected into parallel strands by a third type of reciprocal C -H ···O bond (H ···O 232 pm) between the second H atom of the central methylene group and a sulfonyl oxygen atom of the adjacent unit. The structure of 4 (monoclinic, space group C2/c) showed severe disorder of the crown ether and could not be refined satisfactorily. Compounds 5 and 6 crystallized as long and extremely thin fibres, indicative of linear-polymeric supramolecular structures; single crystals for X-ray crystallography were not available.
Correction: Zwitterionic polymerization of glycidyl monomers to cyclic polyethers with B(C6F5)3