research communications
accessand Hirshfeld analysis of poly[bis(N,O-dimethylhydroxylammonium) [di-μ2-iodido-diiodidoplumbate(II)]]
aDepartment of Chemistry, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Volodymyrska st. 64/13, 01601 Kyiv, Ukraine, and bDepartment of Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi, Carol I Blvd 11, 700506 Iasi, Romania
*Correspondence e-mail: [email protected]
The title compound, {(C2H8NO)2[PbI4]}n, represents a layered organic–inorganic perovskite, crystallizing in space group C2/c. The asymmetric unit comprises one N,O-dimethylhydroxylammonium cation, one Pb2+ cation located on a twofold rotation axis, and two iodide anions. The Pb2+ cation is coordinated by six iodido ligands, generating a slightly distorted octahedral {PbI6} unit. The octahedra are connected by corner-sharing of equatorial I− ligands to form polymeric inorganic sheets extending parallel to the ab plane. These sheets are separated by double layers of the organic cations, producing a typical di-periodic perovskite-type arrangement with stacking of the layers along the c axis. Neighbouring inorganic layers are shifted relative to each other along both the a and b axes. The N,O-dimethylhydroxylammonium cation engages in two N—H⋯I hydrogen bonds directed toward axially bound iodido ligands, which consolidates the packing of the crystal structure.
Keywords: crystal structure; N,O-dimethylhydroxylammonium; perovskite derivative; layered structure; Hirshfeld surface; hybrid compound; metal halides; lead(II) iodide.
CCDC reference: 2499482
1. Chemical context
Hybrid organic–inorganic compounds with crystal structures related to perovskites have become one of the most intensively studied classes of functional materials over the past decade due to their remarkable optoelectronic properties, ease of solution processing, and compositional tunability (Kojima et al., 2009
; Green et al., 2014
; Snaith, 2013
). Their potential applications span a wide range of technologies, including photovoltaics, light-emitting diodes, lasers, and photodetectors (Stranks & Snaith, 2015
; Park, 2015
). The structural flexibility of hybrid perovskites enables the incorporation of various organic cations, metal cations, and halide anions, giving rise to a broad spectrum of compounds with tailored physical properties (Zhao & Zhu, 2016
).
A particularly important concept in this field is the periodicity of the perovskite framework. While tri-periodic perovskites, composed of extended frameworks made up from corner-sharing octahedral {MX6} (M = Pb, Sn, Ge; X = halide) building units, dominate the research landscape (Kucheriv et al., 2025
), reduced systems in periodicity, viz. di-periodic, perovskite-inspired mono-periodic and even zero-periodic organic–inorganic hybrids are also worth paying attention to (Mitzi, 1999
; Smith et al., 2014
). In the most common di-periodic hybrid perovskites, the inorganic layers of corner-sharing octahedra are separated by organic cations, leading to natural quantum-well structures with enhanced structural stability and tunable optical and electronic properties (Ishihara, 1994
; Cao et al., 2015
). These features make such perovskites highly promising as more stable alternatives compared to tri-periodic analogues in optoelectronic applications (Blancon et al., 2018
).
The N,O-dimethylhydroxylammonium cation, (CH3NH2OCH3)+, could be intriguing for templating di-periodic structures. Studies of hydroxylammonium-based salts have documented that these cations form particularly strong intermolecular hydrogen bonds, significantly enhancing crystal packing density (Meng et al., 2016
). Despite these advantages, reports incorporating N,O-dimethylhydroxylammonium in perovskites are represented by only one example (Sirenko et al., 2025
).
In the current work, we present the synthesis, and Hirshfeld surface analysis of (C2H8NO)2[PbI4]. Our study also highlights how the cation influences the hydrogen-bonding network, octahedral arrangement, and overall periodicity of the perovskite-type structure.
2. Structural commentary
In the one Pb2+ cation located on a twofold rotation axis, two iodide anions, and a single N,O-dimethylhydroxylammonium cation are present (Fig. 1
). The Pb2+ cation is sixfold coordinated by iodido ligands, giving rise to a distorted {PbI6} octahedron with Pb—I bond lengths varying between 3.1622 (16) and 3.2028 (13) Å. Bond angles confirm this distortion: cis-I—Pb—I bond angles are between 87.07 (5) and 95.73 (4)°, while the trans-I—Pb—I bond angles are 174.33 (5)° for equatorial I− ligands and 176.07 (7)° for axial ones. The degree of deviation from ideal octahedral coordination is expressed by two parameters: Δd = 1/6Σ6i=1(di − d)2/d2 (1) and Σ = Σ12i=1|90 – αi| (2), where di is the individual bond length, d is average bond length and αi are twelve individual cis-angles in the coordination octahedron. For this compound, Δd is determined to be 2.79 × 10−5, and the Σ parameter is 24.40°.
| Figure 1 View of the basic structural units of the title compound, showing one {PbI6} octahedron and the associated organic cation with the atom-labelling scheme and displacement ellipsoids drawn at the 50% probability level; H atoms are shown as small spheres of arbitrary radius. The N—H⋯I hydrogen bond is shown as a dotted line. [Symmetry codes: (i) 1 − x, + y, |
In the title compound, the {PbI6} coordination octahedra share equatorial corners to form polymeric inorganic layers with composition 2∞{[PbI4/2I2/1]2–}, which extend parallel to the ab plane. The organic (CH3NH2OCH3)+ cations are organized in double layers situated between the anionic sheets. The stacking of the two types of layers proceeds along the c axis, with the cations oriented parallel to this axis (Fig. 2
).
| Figure 2 View of the crystal structure packing of (C2H8NO)2[PbI4], showing the inorganic layers and double layers of cations stacked along the c axis. |
3. Supramolecular features
Interaction between the N,O-dimethylhydroxylammonium cations and the inorganic layers occurs through the protonated secondary amino group, which establishes N—H⋯I hydrogen bonds with the axially bound iodido ligands only (Table 1
).
|
The N,O-dimethylhydroxylammonium cations are oriented perpendicularly to each other on opposite sides of the inorganic layer (Fig. 2
). This perpendicular alignment reduces the distortion of the inorganic layer, unlike an arrangement where the cations would adopt parallel orientations on both sides. The observed orientation arises from the packing of adjacent inorganic sheets, which optimizes the filling of the interlayer space occupied by the (CH3NH2OCH3)+ double layers, which additionally are linked to each other by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds (Table 1
, Fig. 3
). Furthermore, the two neighbouring inorganic layers, separated by the double layers of organic cations, are shifted along both the a and b axes.
| Figure 3 Representation of structural fragments, highlighting the hydrogen-bonding scheme in (C2H8NO)2[PbI4] (drawn as dotted lines). |
4. Hirshfeld surface analysis
To further investigate the intermolecular contacts, a Hirshfeld surface analysis was carried out with CrystalExplorer (Spackman et al., 2021
). From this analysis, the related two-dimensional fingerprint plots were obtained. The dnorm surface displays two distinct red spots along with several white regions (Fig. 4
a). The red–white–blue colour scheme was applied, where red regions corresponds to short intermolecular contacts smaller than the sum of van der Waals (vdW) distances, white regions indicate close to vdW distances, and blue regions indicates longer vdW contacts. The red spots on the Hirshfeld surface are attributed to the rather strong intermolecular N—H⋯I hydrogen bonds, whereas the white regions mainly refer to H⋯H and O⋯H/H⋯O contacts. The overall two-dimensional fingerprint plot (Fig. 4
b) is complemented by decomposed plots for H⋯H, I⋯H/H⋯I, O⋯H/H⋯O and I⋯O/O⋯I contacts, which also show their relative contributions to the Hirshfeld surface (Fig. 4
c,d). The I⋯H/H⋯I interactions contribute 41.1% to the crystal packing and thus define most of the relevant interactions in the crystal structure, while O⋯H/H⋯O interactions contribute 14.4% to the crystal structure. The remaining contribution originates from H⋯H contacts (44.1%), which can be found frequently in the structure, as H atoms occupy terminal positions. I⋯O/O⋯I contacts (0.4% contribution) appear to be irrelevant for the packing.
| Figure 4 (a) Hirshfeld surface representation with the function dnorm plotted onto the surface for the different interactions. Two-dimensional fingerprint plots from the Hirshfeld surface analysis of the title compound showing: (b) all contacts; (c) I⋯H/H⋯I (41.1%); (d) O⋯H/H⋯O (14.4%). |
5. Database survey
A search of the Cambridge Structure Database (CSD version 6.00, last update August 2025; Groom et al., 2016
) revealed more than 2000 entries containing {PbI6} octahedra in combination with organic ammonium cations. However, only a single structure incorporating the N,O-dimethylhydroxylammonium cation was identified, refcode MUPCIN (Sirenko et al., 2025
). It is isostructural with the title compound and composed of corner-sharing {SnBr6} octahedra as the inorganic component.
6. Synthesis and crystallization
PbI2 (0.21 g, 0.45 mmol) was dissolved in a mixture of 0.5 ml concentrated hydroiodic acid (57%wt) and 50 µl H3PO2 under heating with continuous stirring. After complete dissolution, N,O-dimethylhydroxylamine hydrochloride (0.088 g, 0.90 mmol) was added to the mixture. Stirring was continued until a homogeneous solution was obtained. On cooling to room temperature, light-red crystals formed spontaneously. The product was collected and stored in the mother liquor until it was used for diffraction experiments.
7. Refinement
Crystal data, data collection and structure details are summarized in Table 2
. Four twin components were identified by PLATON (Spek, 2020
) and the corresponding HKLF5 file was generated. The proportions of the twin components were determined during the refinement cycles as 0.093 (4), 0.294 (4), 0.271 (4), 0.342 (4). Hydrogen atoms in methyl groups were placed at calculated positions and refined as rotating with C—H = 0.96 Å and Uiso(H) = 1.5Ueq(C). Hydrogen atoms of theamino group were placed at calculated positions and refined as riding atoms with N—H = 0.89 Å and Uiso(H) = 1.2Ueq(N).
|
Supporting information
CCDC reference: 2499482
contains datablock I. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1107/S2056989025009661/wm5774sup1.cif
Structure factors: contains datablock I. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1107/S2056989025009661/wm5774Isup2.hkl
| (C2H8NO)2[PbI4] | F(000) = 1456 |
| Mr = 838.98 | Dx = 3.133 Mg m−3 |
| Monoclinic, C2/c | Mo Kα radiation, λ = 0.71073 Å |
| a = 8.9536 (8) Å | Cell parameters from 1334 reflections |
| b = 8.9538 (6) Å | θ = 3.2–28.4° |
| c = 22.300 (2) Å | µ = 16.41 mm−1 |
| β = 95.751 (8)° | T = 293 K |
| V = 1778.8 (3) Å3 | Plate, clear light red |
| Z = 4 | 0.05 × 0.05 × 0.01 mm |
| Xcalibur, Eos diffractometer | 2043 independent reflections |
| Radiation source: fine-focus sealed X-ray tube, Enhance (Mo) X-ray Source | 1393 reflections with I > 2σ(I) |
| Graphite monochromator | Rint = 0.065 |
| Detector resolution: 16.1593 pixels mm-1 | θmax = 29.2°, θmin = 1.8° |
| ω scans | h = −12→12 |
| Absorption correction: multi-scan (CrysAlisPro; Rigaku OD, 2022) | k = −12→12 |
| Tmin = 0.377, Tmax = 1.000 | l = −30→30 |
| 2043 measured reflections |
| Refinement on F2 | Primary atom site location: dual |
| Least-squares matrix: full | Hydrogen site location: inferred from neighbouring sites |
| R[F2 > 2σ(F2)] = 0.060 | H-atom parameters constrained |
| wR(F2) = 0.144 | w = 1/[σ2(Fo2) + (0.046P)2 + 3.2533P] where P = (Fo2 + 2Fc2)/3 |
| S = 1.05 | (Δ/σ)max < 0.001 |
| 2043 reflections | Δρmax = 1.81 e Å−3 |
| 65 parameters | Δρmin = −1.91 e Å−3 |
| 3 restraints |
Geometry. All esds (except the esd in the dihedral angle between two l.s. planes) are estimated using the full covariance matrix. The cell esds are taken into account individually in the estimation of esds in distances, angles and torsion angles; correlations between esds in cell parameters are only used when they are defined by crystal symmetry. An approximate (isotropic) treatment of cell esds is used for estimating esds involving l.s. planes. |
Refinement. Refined as a 4-component twin. |
| x | y | z | Uiso*/Ueq | ||
| Pb1 | 0.500000 | 0.18968 (14) | 0.250000 | 0.0291 (3) | |
| I1 | 0.75260 (19) | 0.43769 (17) | 0.25702 (6) | 0.0514 (4) | |
| I2 | 0.5225 (2) | 0.20194 (18) | 0.39416 (6) | 0.0529 (4) | |
| O1 | 0.622 (3) | 0.624 (2) | 0.4578 (8) | 0.103 (8) | |
| N1 | 0.641 (2) | 0.595 (2) | 0.3990 (8) | 0.069 (6) | |
| H1A | 0.626129 | 0.498099 | 0.390777 | 0.083* | |
| H1B | 0.732660 | 0.619761 | 0.390781 | 0.083* | |
| C2 | 0.524 (3) | 0.689 (3) | 0.3634 (10) | 0.075 (8) | |
| H2A | 0.508029 | 0.651308 | 0.322888 | 0.113* | |
| H2B | 0.558651 | 0.790214 | 0.362640 | 0.113* | |
| H2C | 0.432024 | 0.684702 | 0.381801 | 0.113* | |
| C1 | 0.726 (3) | 0.520 (3) | 0.4929 (10) | 0.090 (10) | |
| H1C | 0.804448 | 0.491127 | 0.469112 | 0.135* | |
| H1D | 0.671575 | 0.433226 | 0.503564 | 0.135* | |
| H1E | 0.768524 | 0.569215 | 0.528928 | 0.135* |
| U11 | U22 | U33 | U12 | U13 | U23 | |
| Pb1 | 0.0223 (12) | 0.0246 (13) | 0.0405 (5) | 0.000 | 0.0032 (7) | 0.000 |
| I1 | 0.0349 (15) | 0.0373 (17) | 0.0827 (10) | −0.0157 (5) | 0.0090 (11) | −0.0014 (11) |
| I2 | 0.0619 (13) | 0.0579 (12) | 0.0377 (7) | −0.0162 (8) | −0.0005 (9) | 0.0023 (8) |
| O1 | 0.13 (2) | 0.092 (19) | 0.101 (16) | −0.005 (14) | 0.053 (16) | −0.003 (16) |
| N1 | 0.038 (14) | 0.070 (17) | 0.100 (16) | −0.014 (12) | 0.010 (12) | −0.013 (15) |
| C2 | 0.07 (3) | 0.08 (3) | 0.068 (16) | 0.008 (15) | −0.017 (18) | −0.034 (16) |
| C1 | 0.08 (3) | 0.10 (3) | 0.08 (2) | −0.018 (17) | −0.034 (19) | 0.04 (2) |
| Pb1—I1 | 3.1622 (16) | N1—H1B | 0.8900 |
| Pb1—I1i | 3.1623 (15) | N1—C2 | 1.504 (10) |
| Pb1—I1ii | 3.1767 (15) | C2—H2A | 0.9600 |
| Pb1—I1iii | 3.1767 (16) | C2—H2B | 0.9600 |
| Pb1—I2i | 3.2028 (13) | C2—H2C | 0.9600 |
| Pb1—I2 | 3.2028 (13) | C1—H1C | 0.9600 |
| O1—N1 | 1.363 (9) | C1—H1D | 0.9600 |
| O1—C1 | 1.481 (10) | C1—H1E | 0.9600 |
| N1—H1A | 0.8900 | ||
| I1—Pb1—I1i | 90.79 (8) | O1—N1—H1B | 110.8 |
| I1i—Pb1—I1iii | 90.138 (7) | O1—N1—C2 | 104.7 (17) |
| I1—Pb1—I1iii | 174.33 (5) | H1A—N1—H1B | 108.9 |
| I1i—Pb1—I1ii | 174.33 (5) | C2—N1—H1A | 110.8 |
| I1—Pb1—I1ii | 90.138 (6) | C2—N1—H1B | 110.8 |
| I1iii—Pb1—I1ii | 89.49 (8) | N1—C2—H2A | 109.5 |
| I1ii—Pb1—I2 | 95.73 (4) | N1—C2—H2B | 109.5 |
| I1iii—Pb1—I2 | 87.07 (5) | N1—C2—H2C | 109.5 |
| I1iii—Pb1—I2i | 95.73 (4) | H2A—C2—H2B | 109.5 |
| I1i—Pb1—I2i | 87.34 (4) | H2A—C2—H2C | 109.5 |
| I1—Pb1—I2 | 87.34 (4) | H2B—C2—H2C | 109.5 |
| I1i—Pb1—I2 | 89.90 (4) | O1—C1—H1C | 109.5 |
| I1ii—Pb1—I2i | 87.07 (5) | O1—C1—H1D | 109.5 |
| I1—Pb1—I2i | 89.90 (4) | O1—C1—H1E | 109.5 |
| I2—Pb1—I2i | 176.07 (7) | H1C—C1—H1D | 109.5 |
| Pb1—I1—Pb1iv | 174.33 (5) | H1C—C1—H1E | 109.5 |
| N1—O1—C1 | 104.9 (17) | H1D—C1—H1E | 109.5 |
| O1—N1—H1A | 110.8 | ||
| C1—O1—N1—C2 | 174 (2) |
| Symmetry codes: (i) −x+1, y, −z+1/2; (ii) −x+3/2, y−1/2, −z+1/2; (iii) x−1/2, y−1/2, z; (iv) x+1/2, y+1/2, z. |
| D—H···A | D—H | H···A | D···A | D—H···A |
| N1—H1A···I2 | 0.89 | 2.81 | 3.674 (18) | 162 |
| N1—H1B···I2iv | 0.89 | 2.69 | 3.560 (18) | 167 |
| C1—H1D···O1v | 0.96 | 2.89 | 3.64 (3) | 136 |
| C1—H1E···O1vi | 0.96 | 2.92 | 3.59 (4) | 128 |
| Symmetry codes: (iv) x+1/2, y+1/2, z; (v) −x+1, −y+1, −z+1; (vi) −x+3/2, −y+3/2, −z+1. |
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the FAIRE programme provided by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) for the opportunity to use the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) and associated software. DDN acknowledges the II European Chemistry School for Ukrainians.
Funding information
Funding for this research was provided by: Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (grant No. 24BF037-01M; grant No. 24BF037-02).
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