Polymorphism in homochiral zinc phosphonates.

This paper reports four homochiral zinc phosphonates, alpha-(S)-[Zn 2(pemp)(pempH)Cl] (1), alpha-(R)-[Zn 2(pemp)(pempH)Cl] (2), beta-(S)-[Zn 2(pemp)(pempH)Cl] (3), and beta-(R)-[Zn 2(pemp)(pempH)Cl] (4) [pempH 2 = (1-phenylethyl)amino]methylphosphonic acid]. Both 1 and 2 are enantiomers, crystallizing in an orthorhombic P2(1)2(1)2(1) space group, while 3 and 4 are polymorphic phases of 1 and 2, respectively, crystallizing in a monoclinic P2(1) space group. The polymorphism is induced by temperature or additional organic molecules.