X-ray studies of crystalline complexes involving amino acids and peptides. XLIII. Adipic acid complexes of L- and DL-lysine.

The asymmetric unit of the DL-lysine complex of adipic acid [bis(DL-lysinium) adipate], 2C6H15N2O2+.C6H8O(4)2-, contains a zwitterionic singly charged lysinium cation and half a doubly charged adipate anion (the complete anion has inversion symmetry). That of the L-lysine complex (lysinium hydrogen adipate), C6H15N2O2+.C6H9O4-, consists of a lysinium cation and a singly charged hydrogen adipate anion. In both structures, the lysinium cations organize into layers interconnected by adipate or hydrogen adipate anions. However, the arrangement of the molecular ions in the layer is profoundly different in the DL- and L-lysine complexes. The hydrogen adipate anions in the L-lysine complex form linear arrays in which adjacent ions are interconnected by a symmetric O...H...O hydrogen bond.