Centrosymmetric cyananilic acid: a molecule for functional solids

Abstract

This article investigates the recent research on a series of anilic acid molecules. The crystallisation of molecules in high symmetry space groups is discussed and rationalised by the arrangement of charge-transfer complexes, which leads to the occurrence of repeated embrace motifs. Since 1997, cyananilic acid (2,5-dicyano-3,6-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone) has been explored due to its valuable physico-chemical features. It is an organic acid that has Mott-insulator properties and organic ferroelectricity. Understanding these properties is an active area of supramolecular chemistry.

Keywords:

• anilic acid
• crystal engineering
• hydrogen bond
• supramolecular synthons