Diffractaic acid: Crystalline structure and physicochemical characterization

• Determination of the crystalline structure of diffractaic acid with a detailed discussion of the crystal packing.
• Detailed solid stated characterization of diffractaic acid.
• Description of the thermal stability of diffractaic acid and its decomposition.
• Analysis of the vibrational spectra supported by quantum mechanical calculations.
• Correlation between the crystalline structure and the vibrational spectrum.

Diffractaic acid (DA) is a secondary metabolite of lichens that belongs to the chemical class of depsides, and some relevant pharmacological properties are associated with this natural product, such as antioxidant, antiulcerogenic and gastroprotective effects. Considering the relevant biological activities and taking into account that the activities are intrinsically related to the structure, the main goal of this study was to elucidate the structure of diffractaic acid by single crystal X-ray diffraction as well to characterize its physicochemical properties by powder X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis and vibrational spectroscopy. It was observed that DA belongs to the monoclinic crystal system, crystallizing in the space group P21/c with the following cell parameters: a = 18.535(7) Å, b = 4.0439(18) Å, c = 23.964(6) Å, β = 91.55(3)°. The crystal packing is characterized by difractaic acid dimers, which are reflected in the vibrational spectrum. These observations were supported by quantum mechanical calculations.

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