The interplay of thiophilic and hydrogen bonding interactions in the supramolecular architecture of phenylmercury 4-hydroxypiperidine dithiocarbamate

A new phenylmercury(II) dithiocarbamate complex [PhHg(S₂CN(CH₂)₄CH(OH)], (1) has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The crystal structure of 1 shows a linear arrangement at the Hg(II) centre of the molecule through bonding of the sulphur atom of the dithiocarbamate ligand and the carbon atom of the aromatic ring. Weak intermolecular thiophilic Hg···S interactions lead to a "head-to-tail" dimer and the presence of a hydroxyl group at the periphery of piperidine moiety generates a 1D-chain network through intermolecular O···H interactions. The nature of weak intra- and intermolecular Hg···S, H···S and intermolecular O···H interactions have been assessed with the help of ab initio calculations and atoms-in-molecules (AIM) approach.