Supramolecular synthon competition in organic sulfonates: A CSD survey

The hydrogen bonding motifs seen in sulfonate salts have been examined using the CSD. In a total sample of 1069 sulfonate salts, 594 structures contain NH-donors, and this subset of structures has been investigated in detail. Several robust hydrogen-bonding motifs have been identified. A particularly robust R(2,2)8 motif, here called the bidentate motif, has been investigated in more detail. This motif occurs with a probability of 75.4% in the CSD, and 78.6% in the sulfonate salts. A set of rules for the prediction of the occurrence of the bidentate motif in sulfonate salts has been developed.