Anisole at 100 K: the first crystal structure determination.

The simplest alkyl aryl ether, anisole (methoxybenzene), C7H8O, is a feedstock chemical and is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry. The structure of anisole at 100 K, as determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis, is reported. A crystal (m.p. 236 K) suitable for X-ray diffraction was obtained from the melt. The title compound crystallizes in the centrosymmetric space group P2(1)/c with two molecules in the asymmetric unit (Z' = 2). Both crystallographically distinct molecules adopt a virtually flat (Cs-symmetric) conformation. The arrangement of the molecules in the solid state appears to be governed by close packing. No face-to-face π-π stacking of the molecules is observed, but rather edge-to-face interactions result in a herringbone packing motif.