Thermal and structural study on the lattice compound 1,4-diammoniumbutane bis(theophyllinate)

Crystalline title compound (1) prepared from aqueous solution of theophylline and 1,4-diaminobutane has been structurally and thermally characterized. Both the two-step TG decomposition curve and elemental analysis of the hexagonal crystals show that it consists of theophylline and 1,4-diaminobutane in 2:1 molar ratio. Actually, presence of one type of both theophyllinate anions and 1,4-diammoniumbutane dication have been indicated by FTIR spectroscopy. The molecular structure of lattice compound (1) has been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction, where the hydrogen positions have been obtained from differential Fourier maps. It has confirmed that the crystal is really built up from these ionic constituents bound together with an extensive net of hydrogen bonds. The coupled TG-FTIR analysis of the evolved gases has revealed that the diamine is released as a whole molecule in the first decomposition step. Clathrate 1 and the proton migration in it might serve as a structural model of solid aminophylline whose crystal structure is still unknown.