Polynitrile anions are important in both coordination chemistry and molecular materials chemistry, and are interesting for their extensive electronic delocalization. The title compound crystallizes with two symmetry-independent half 4,4'-bipyridine-1,1'-diium (bpyH2(2+)) cations and two symmetry-independent 1,1,3,3-tetracyano-2-ethoxypropenide (tcnoet(-)) anions in the asymmetric unit. One of the bpyH2(2+) ions is located on a crystallographic twofold rotation axis (canted pyridine rings) and the other is located on a crystallographic inversion center (coplanar pyridine rings). The ethyl group of one of the tcnoet(-) anions is disordered over two sites with equal populations. The extended structure exhibits two separate N-H···NC hydrogen-bonding motifs, which result in a sheet structure parallel to (010), and weak C-H···NC hydrogen bonds form joined rings. Two types of multicenter CN···π interactions are observed between the bpyH2(2+) rings and tcnoet(-) anions. An additonal CN···π interaction between adjacent tcnoet(-) anions is observed. Using density functional theory, the calculated attractive energy between cation and anion pairs in the tcnoet(-)···π(bipyridinediium) interactions were found to be 557 and 612 kJ mol(-1) for coplanar and canted bpyH2(2+) cations, respectively.
* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.