The evaluation of the role of C–H⋯F hydrogen bonds in crystal altering the packing modes in the presence of strong hydrogen bond

• Weak interactions involving “Organic Fluorine”.
• Strong hydrogen bond vs weak interactions.
• Gas phase calculations of stabilization energies.
• Topological properties and lattice energies.

Interactions involving fluorine is an area of contemporary research. To unravel the importance of weak C–H⋯F hydrogen bonds and C–H⋯π interactions in organic compounds in the presence of strong hydrogen bond, a series of N-benzylideneanilines with simultaneously hydroxyl (–OH) and fluorine substitutions were synthesized for structural analysis. These compounds have been studied through experimental single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and computational methods (Gaussian09 and AIM2000). The hydroxyl group present in all the molecules were found to form strong O–H⋯N hydrogen bond, but the spatial arrangement of the molecules connected by this hydrogen bond have been found to be controlled by the weak C–H⋯F and C–H⋯O hydrogen bonds, weak C–H⋯π and π⋯π interactions. This manuscript illustrates the importance of several weaker interactions in altering the packing modes in the presence of strong hydrogen bonds.