The halogen bond made visible: experimental charge density of a very short intermolecular Cl⋯Cl donor–acceptor contact

Abstract

[ZnCl(2)(3,4,5-trichloropyridine)(2)] features short intermolecular Cl···Cl contacts between halogen atoms of different nature, and a charge density study provides experimental evidence for the accepted model of the halogen bonds: an arene-bonded Cl atom acts as a donor of electron density towards the "sigma hole" of a chlorido ligand attached to a neighbouring Zn(II) cation.