Self-Assembly Motifs of Water in Crystals of Palladium β-Amino Acid Complexes Influenced by Methyl Substitution on the Amino Acid Backbone

Abstract

Amino acid complexes of transition metals show interesting hydrogen-bonding motifs. In this paper, the syntheses and structures of three β-amino acid complexes of palladium that differ only by the substitution on the β-carbon will be discussed. With only hydrogen on the β-carbon, no additional water is incorporated into the crystal lattice and hydrogen-bonding is all complex-to-complex. With the addition of one and two methyl groups on the amino acid β-carbon, water is incorporated into the crystal lattice giving intricate water networks held together by complex-to-water and water-to-water hydrogen-bonding networks.