Abstract:
The potential importance in biology of ammonium-arene cation-π interactions has fostered the development of a model system that uses ferrocene as a scaffold that can rotate groups with respect to each other while maintaining them at a fixed distance. The preparation of 1-benzyl-1′-N,N- dimethylaminomethylferrocene methiodide is reported along with the solid state structure of it and its precursor. Clear evidence is presented for an intermolecular ammonium-arene interaction. The results are analyzed in the context of existing arene-ammonium ion contacts.