Abstract
The cyclic compound 2,4-bis(dimethylamino)-1,3-diethylcyclodiphosphazane-2,4-dithione [systematic name: 2,4-bis(dimethylamino)-1,3-diethyl-1,3,2 lambda(5),4 lambda(5)-diazadiphosphetidine-2,4-dithione], C8H22N4P2S2 or [EtNP(S)NMe2](2), is member of a class of molecules that may be used, by virtue of their complexation properties, for the extraction of metals. This compound was characterized in solution by (H-1 and P-31) NMR, and in the solid state by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and by X-ray crystallography. In the crystal, the molecule sits on an inversion centre such that the P and N atoms form a centrosymmetric cyclic P2N2 arrangement. The crystal packing is dominated by van der Waals interactions. The prevalence of these interactions is illustrated by an analysis of the three-dimensional Hirshfeld surface (HS) and by two-dimensional fingerprint plots (FP). The relative contribution of different interactions to the HS indicates that the H center dot center dot center dot H contacts account for 74.3% of the total HS area.