Molecular structure and conformation of two acyclic polythioethers: implications for the design of heavy metal chelators

The crystal structures of the 1,9-bis(p-tolyl)-2,5,8-trithianonane (1) and 1,12-bis(p-tolyl)-2,5,8,11-tetrathiadodecane (2) are reported. Previous studies of macrocyclic polythioethers have revealed a pronounced tendency for backbone CS-CC bonds to adopt gauche torsion angles. The same tendency is observed in the homologous acyclic polythioethers 1 and 2, demonstrating that the gauche preference is not simply the result of a macrocyclic constraint. Because of this gauche preference of CS-CC torsion units and the well-established anti preference of SC-CS torsion units, polythioethers constructed from ethylene sulfide subunits are generally far from preorganized for metal ion chelation.